And Yet
by paradoxScholar
Summary: After Cora-san dies to protect Trafalgar Law, what left is there for the young boy to live for? Who comes to save him and help him get back on his feet? A story following the future Surgeon of Death after the events of Law's flashback, where he meets a strange young woman.
1. Prologue

Hello everyone. This'll be my 2nd time posting up a story :) Please feel free to leave any comments! Thanks and enjoy! (hopefully haha)

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Prologue

Snow.

All around me, in every direction I turned, snow was falling. It came down with no end in sight, paving the ground with white and piling it up higher and higher, all the way up to my knees. It made it so hard to walk, and it was so cold I was sure that if I was half-conscious, I'd be convinced my bones had turned into ice.

But no. I had to keep going, even if I could hardly make out anything in front of me, even if every step I took made me feel like I was about to collapse. I had no other choice. Behind me was death- or, at the very least, capture- and there was no negotiating. Not with all the men in the midst of a battle. Not with all the cannon blasts and the clashing steel I could hear muffled beyond the cover of the blizzard.

But more than the cold, the hunger, and the fatigue, I felt emptiness. It was deeper and harsher than any cold winter night or blizzard or mountain. It was pain in the deepest pit of my heart, and just like the snow, my tears kept falling, even though my face was already frozen. I haven't cried in so long. Not since my parents and sister died. Not since my hometown and all the people were killed in a bloody massacre because the government was afraid of a disease they didn't bother to study or understand.

Now someone else was gone. The man who protected me from the shadows for nearly 3 years, a good man, was killed without mercy by his own bastard brother's hand. All I could do for him in the end was let him save me one last time while he was clinging to the last fleeting moments of his life. All that I could do to make sure his life wasn't thrown away in vain was to walk away.

And I _would_ walk. I didn't know how long it had been since I started, or how far away I was from his dead body, but I would keep going as far as my legs could carry me. As far as….

Before I knew it, I was on the ground, my whole body shaking and frozen. My face was buried in snow and I could barely breathe. It felt like my lungs had filled with frost. My consciousness was slowly fading and my mind was swirling, just like the snow in the wind.

I managed to look at my hands. In the snow, the white patches on my skin were almost invisible. Somehow… that made me a bit hopeful. Maybe soon… I could find out how to make myself better… with that new power…? Cora-san said it… wasn't magic…. He never did… tell me how-


	2. Chapter 1

1

I woke up to the warmth of a fire.

I tried to sit up while my senses took in my surroundings, tried to push myself off the ground, but a bolt of pain shot through my body, and every part of me was aching. By now I was used to this, the constant pain, but right now all I could manage to do was lean against the wall.

I looked around. I was in a dark, cold cave, but it was a welcome shelter from the blizzard raging outside. Beyond the strong winds, I could still hear the muffled din of a battleground. The fire in front of me didn't show any signs of letting up, though. My clothes were wet but at least I wasn't shaking anymore.

Wait... There was a blanket on me.

But who-?

The thought had barely formed in my head when a dark figure appeared at the mouth of the cave.

For the first time in a long time, I felt fear- a fear of the unknown. But I'd gone through a lot of terrible experiences, been part of a pirate crew even, and after years in the face of death, it was easy for me to set my fear aside and put myself on guard.

The figure approached, completely cloaked and face covered with a scarf and goggles. He stepped up to the fire, looking down at me. I waited for him to make the first move, my body tensed with pain and anticipation.

"So, you're awake."

The man's voice was low, but there was something… off about it.

"You must be wondering how you got here.…"

He turned his head to look back outside, as though checking to see if he'd been followed, then suddenly crouched down and leant back to sit himself on the ground in a tripod position.

"Haha, I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore."

It was a woman's voice.

That was… unexpected.

She slid back her hood, put the goggles on her forehead and tore off the scarf. She had a regular, indistinct face with small features, and straight black hair just past the shoulders. But when she grinned at me, all her teeth showed, like a kid about to receive a present, and her thin eyes wrinkled up so that they almost disappeared from sight.

"Sorry for tricking you, but I've always wanted to try out my guy's imitation voice on somebody and see if it was convincing."

When I didn't answer, she started to chuckle nervously and pointed behind her with her thumb.

"W-What a blizzard huh? I'm not all that used to cold weather, so I had to cover up. A-Anyway, are you doing okay?"

"Who are you?" My voice sounded unnatural, the echo bouncing around the cave, but I didn't hesitate.

She looked taken aback. "You don't mess around, do you? Dang."

She scratched her head with another emerging smile.

"It's common courtesy to say your name first when you ask for someone else's, especially if that person saved your life, y'know."

She looked at me expectantly but I stayed quiet. If I told her my name and she was a marine, or worse, one of Doflamingo's subordinates, I'd be in big trouble. If I'd learned one thing from life, it was to never let your guard down.

She frowned. The sound of whistling blizzard winds and faint faraway shouts filled the silence.

"Claviger Shingle." She said suddenly. She reached out, suddenly took my hand, and shook it. "Nice to meet you." Her expression, however, said otherwise. Her brows were knit, and she kept looking at me.

"You're running away from that battle back down the mountain aren't you?"

That was, again, unexpected.

She shrugged. "A kid like you walking around in a terrible storm like this, by yourself, in the middle of the night, without proper clothing to protect yourself and there's a tiny war going on nearby? C'mon. You're lucky to be alive."

"…You're not a marine or a pirate, are you?"

"Well... I have a crew, but they're not here right now." She twiddled her hands absentmindedly with a faraway smile. "I kind of separated from them. Right now I'm more of a wanderer, really. Going wherever the winds take me, so to speak." She gave a knowing grin and wink, as though she'd just made a funny joke.

"And don't worry." She added hopefully. "I'm not in league with any of the people back in that ghost town where the fighting is going on, if you'll believe me."

She stretched her limbs. "As soon as I saw the fighting from a cliff, I knew I had to avoid getting caught in it, so I kept walking away from the gunshots and shouting and before long I found you near death on the ground."

She grew quiet, evidently waiting for my response.

"… My name is Law. Trafalgar Law."

She smiled, almost wistfully. "Nice to meet ya, Law."

"Why did you save me?"

Again, she looked surprised. "You're really asking? Gosh… I mean, you obviously needed help. There's a blizzard out there and I found you nearly buried. You were gonna die. Wouldn't this be the normal thing to do?"

Maybe it was because I'd been living with the wrong people too long, but I didn't consider that something normal at all.

"Oh hey!" Her exclamation rang out loudly through the cave. She reached into her cloak, pulling out two small rabbits. "I figured you might be hungry so I caught these for you. I'll cook them now."

She set them down and went off to a corner of the cave, where from a hidden niche in the wall, she pulled out a black backpack, and rushed back with it in her arms.

I watched silently, and then a bit incredulously, as she fumbled a bit with her bag, as though she were nervous, and finally pulled out a switchblade and a frying pan.

She skinned the rabbit, sliced off the meat, and then cooked them on the pan. I noticed that the blood had already been drained. She kept hold of the handle and propped her arm up on her knee as it cooked.

"By the way," she said suddenly, breaking the silence, "What's with the white patches on your skin? Is that a condition?" She looked at me curiously.

I stiffened. In my mind flashed images of all the dead people in piles on the streets, covered in these same white blotches. Visions of the countless doctors, nurses and hospitals that refused to come near me and hurled curses my way when they saw me, when they found out what I had.

"…Yes. I have Amber Lead Syndrome."

She cocked her head to the side. "Ohhh. Sounds really interesting. If you don't mind, can you tell me about it?"

I had expected her to scream and run, so I was speechless for a while. News about Amber Lead and the outbreak of war between Flevance and its neighboring countries spread like wildfire and reached every end of the ocean thanks to the world government. Even though it happened a few years ago, people still usually recognized the name. So….

"You've… never heard of it?"

"Nope." She shook her head slowly as she swirled the contents of the pan around. "I don't really update myself with what's going on around the world so much.

Why? Should I be worried?"

"…."

"It's not contagious, is it?" She tilted her head skeptically, eyeing me from top to bottom.

"No, it's not." I replied, more strongly than I intended.

"Well then, there's no problem." She smiled, her eyes closed like she was sleepy.

"… You believe me?"

"Well… yeah." She cracked an eyelid open. "I mean, should I have a reason not to?"

"I could be lying."

She rubbed her chin while looking around the cave. "Hmm… True… But if it really is contagious, I'd probably have it by now, since I carried you here. And if that's the case, there's nothing I can do about it anymore, is there? Don't you agree?"

I was too surprised to answer her, before she suddenly snapped her fingers, her expression brightening, and pointed at me. "Unless of course," she said with a look of revelation, "it's passed through droplets!… Is it?"

"… No. It's hereditary."

"Well then see?" She raised her free hand in a shrug. "No problem."

The more time I spent around this strange lady, the harder it was for me to read her motives. Was she really as innocent as she made herself out to be? She seemed childish, and harmless, but that could all just be a cover. I was sure she must be hiding something.

She had medical knowledge. That was for sure. She used the word 'droplet' for a mode of disease transmission, and while it wasn't exactly high-end medical terminology, normal civilians wouldn't be using the word to describe sneezing and coughing in a regular conversation.

It could have just been a coincidence, but given my circumstances, it was too much of a coincidence….

"Hmm, this is probably about done…" Her face scrunched up as she inspected the pieces of smoking meat on the pan and sniffed. She shrugged and seemed content with the outcome and slid the contents on a plate that came from her bag.

"I'm sorry but I can't guarantee it'll be any good."

She put the plate on my lap and handed me a fork.

I held the utensil with some effort. It felt more like a dumbbell than a fork.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Her brows knit with worry.

I didn't answer her as I slowly maneuvered my slightly shaking arm and carefully placed the hot food in my mouth and started chewing.

It was only after I swallowed my first bite that I realized how hungry I was, and I started wolfing down the rest, forgetting how heavy my arm was to raise up to my face.

"How is it?" She asked hopefully.

"The meat is overcooked on one side… and undercooked on the other." I answered in between mouthfuls, watching how she'd react.

"I see.…" She pouted sadly and fished a flask out of her bag. "You should wash it down with some water. I'm sorry."

For the life of me, I couldn't understand why she was apologizing. She sat and watched me eat, bowing her head a little and looking defeated. Did she really feel guilty for the food tasting bad? I couldn't think of any other reason, but that was just ridiculous.

It didn't take me long to finish the meat and I used both my hands to steady the flask on my lips and drink the water.

"How long has it been since you've eaten?"

"… I don't remember."

"Heh, well hopefully you've gotten some of your strength back now."

I wasn't hungry anymore, at least. But my strength? Ever since the Amber Lead Syndrome had started manifesting symptoms, my body had been getting weaker and weaker. It was a miracle I made it so far walking through the mountain. I wasn't this weak before, but it was likely from the fatigue and strain I put on myself trying to get away. Or, it might've been because my condition was getting worse, and by my calculations, I only had less than a month to live.

It could've been both those things.

"Law."

I looked at her and she was standing up, no longer smiling. Her eyes were hard and her mouth a dark arching line. I had almost believed that she couldn't make a serious face. I was wrong.

"The fighting has stopped. They're scouring the mountain."

It was true. As I perked my ears, I realized there was a lack of chaos in the air. She looked behind her, as though they might be right outside.

"Now it's my turn to ask you." She stared at me gravely, then set a knee down in front of me so we could see almost eye to eye.

"You are running away from the marines and the pirates." She stated carefully and clearly. "And you're obviously a very smart kid, and very careful, but what have you done to want to avoid them?"

I couldn't trust her. It's not that I didn't want to. If anything, I didn't know how to trust anyone anymore. The only person I trusted had just died several miles from here trying to save me.

"Law. I know at this moment it's very hard for you to trust anyone, but you must trust me, even if it's just for now."

"Why should I?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. She was suspicious, and strange. If I told her my real circumstances, even she might be able to sell me out to the highest bidder.

"You don't have much of a choice, do you?" Her eyes were full of steel, gaze steady. "You can barely move by yourself right now and whoever's won the battle will be here soon."

As if on cue, I heard the crunch of snow beneath footsteps, the blizzard masking the approaching men. They were nowhere near us yet, but they were getting closer. It was only a matter of time.

"Okay, you know what? Fine. You can tell me later." She said this in an exasperated flurry, clumsily shoving all her things back in her bag, taking out a jacket and slinging the bag in front of her. She put the mask, goggles and hood back on. You'd never had known what kind of person she really was with that get up on. Then she placed the jacket on me, wrapped the blanket around my shoulders, and knelt down facing away from me.

"Hop on."

"You're kidding." This lady, as a rough estimate, was about the same height as me, 5 feet. There's no way she could carry me and her bag past a few meters at best.

"Kid, don't argue. Just do it. Please."

As she had said, I had no choice. I couldn't be caught. I would do everything in my power not to get caught. That would be like spitting on Cora-san's grave. Right now I didn't have the power to get away on my own. If escaping meant having to trust this lady, I would.

I reached out and wrapped my arms weakly around her neck, and she hooked her arms under my legs and stood up.

I braced myself for a fall, but not only was she lifting me without staggering, it looked like it was no effort at all. I was too amazed to speak.

"Here." She tapped a flashlight on my hand. "It'll be dark out there, so I need you to help me out and be my eyes."

After I took it and turned it on, she did something incredible.

She blew on the fire, and her breath turned into a powerful gust that extinguished the flames and scattered the charred pieces of wood across the cave floor. The cave was engulfed in darkness, except for the solitary beam of light I was holding.

"What was-"

"I'll explain later." She answered shortly. "Hold on, kid."

Well, one thing that I was certain of now was this: She was no ordinary lady.

I tightened my grip.

She started walking forward, as though to test the weight, up until the mouth of the cave where she stopped.

She looked up at the raging wind and snow.

"Will you be okay?" she asked me.

I looked up as well. "Yes."

She nodded and then took the first step outside.


	3. Chapter 2

Have fun reading the second chapter everyone!

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2

The snow was thick and knee deep, but she managed to trudge through it as if it was water. It wasn't long, however, until her pace quickened into a jog.

My ears were quite good, so I could hear the far off voices getting slowly fainter and fainter.

The wind, though, was unforgiving, and the cold bit into my skin and threatened to drill into bones, but the jacket and blanket did well to protect me from the elements.

I lit the way for her as she continued to hike hurriedly. She followed the edge of a forest, and the trees gave us a good cover from the snow.

"You doing good so far?"

"Yes," I said into her ear.

She kept going and going. All I could hear was the crunch of her feet and all I could see, about a meter or two ahead, was nothing but snow and trees. I couldn't tell how much time had passed, but it got harder and harder to hold on. My muscles ached and sent waves of pain from my arms down to my back. My grip was slipping, and it finally showed when the lamp fell out of my hand and into the snow.

She silently placed me down and picked up the lamp then handed it to me. I flashed it up at her.

"Don't worry about it Law," I could hear the smile in her voice. "You're probably still exhausted. I've thought of another way I can carry you."

I found it hard to keep my mouth in surprise when she turned to face a nearby tree, opened her cloak and revealed a small sword at her hip.

"Flabrum"

Then, in a flash, she had unsheathed the blade and slashed twice towards the trunk. She hadn't made contact on the wood, but she didn't need to. Along with the slashes came a sharp blade of wind that cut the tree down clean and a log came down in front of her.

A few more well- placed slashes, and in no time she had a thick and wide plank of wood laid down on the snow. She fished out a length of rope from her bag, and after placing a hole in the wood at both edges of one side of the plank, she tied both ends of the rope through them.

"Viola! A sleigh! Fits the season, I think"

I had a realization. "You're a devil fruit user, aren't you?"

She took a look at my shocked face and then scratched her head sheepishly.

"Haha yeah. I ate the Zawa Zawa fruit and now I'm a wind human. It's pretty awesome, I have to admit."

"Anyway," she said hurriedly, "there'll be more time to talk later. Get on, kid." She helped me on top of the makeshift sleigh so that I was sitting with my knees straight and facing where we had come from.

"Oh, one last thing!"

I flinched when she thrust her sword into the wood a few inches below my feet. I was near convinced she was going to kill me, but instead she cut a long slot in the grain and, taking a spare piece of wood, she fit it into the space.

"Tada, a footboard. Now you won't slide off." She chuckled proudly, rubbing her nose. "Sorry if that surprised you."

I couldn't contain my outrage.

"You could've hit me!"

My shouting turned into a gasp of pain as a searing heat radiated throughout my chest and my limbs were overcome with fatigue. I tried to move but I didn't have the strength to.

"Oh my God Law!" She hurriedly crouched to my side, panic painted across her face. "I'm really sorry. I won't do that ever again."

"No," I panted heavily. "It's okay. Let's just get out of here."

Her worried expression wouldn't leave her face, but she nodded in agreement. She took the lamp from me and went up to the rope, grasping it tightly in front of her as she turned away from me.

"Here we go…"

The wooden board started moving with me on it, slowly at first. Then, bit by bit, she moved at the same speed we were going at when she had carried me. I lay down flat on the sleigh and caught my breath and shut my eyes tight, trying to will away the pain as the snow fell unrelentingly on my face.

Everything was totally dark. Before I knew it, I started awake.

How long had I been asleep? The wooden board was still moving, I could feel it. And I could hear Shingle's steady breathing as she continued to drag the sleigh forward, but I felt too groggy and drained to get up and check my surroundings.

The pain had subsided for now but who knew when it was going to come back. Lately the intensity had been increasing to unbearable levels. If I didn't find a way to heal myself soon, I wasn't going to survive.

I didn't have Cora-san to take care of me anymore. He died stealing the Op Op fruit for me, convinced that I could be healed by eating it. My father, the best doctor in Flevance, had believed until the bitter end that there was a way to cure the condition, and maybe now it was within my abilities to discover how.

The problem was that I didn't even know what my powers were, let alone how to activate them or control them.

Shingle Claviger. She was a devil fruit user with the ability to control wind. And she was strong- carrying me all this way was proof of that- too strong to be an ordinary pirate or wanderer or whatever she affiliated herself with. Could I really trust her? In fact, she was doing too much and going out of her way to help me. Even she couldn't consider herself a simple bystander. What was she after by helping me? On one hand, she could help me figure out how to use my devil fruit ability. But, it was possible that this was all an act, that she knew my circumstances and found me to exploit them.

Either way, I was stuck with her until I could help myself.

As I thought these things to myself, I looked around, turning my head left and right, and found that the landscape had changed.

It seemed that we had moved on from the mountainside and were now traveling through some hills in the country. The ground sloped gently up and down as Shingle pulled the sleigh along. Trees had become sparce, and in their place were wild bushes that were bowed nearly flat under the weight of the snow.

Did she have any idea where we were headed?

All at once, she stopped at the top of slope. I slowly propped myself up, and found her scanning the horizon.

"Hey I found a town!" Her muffled voice reported, looking back at me and pointing towards the northeast. I didn't have the strength to lift my head and see for myself, so I took her word for it.

She surveyed it from a distance for a few moments, then started again. She did not, however, head towards the town, but skewed off to the left.

I didn't question her decision. Towns meant people- civilians -and it was best to stay out of populated areas. We were a conspicuous pair, and if either the marines or pirates decided to threaten the locals for any leads, we'd be cornered without fail.

She continued on for several silent moments, down into a field and then up onto an elevation surrounded by shrubbery, flanked to the side by a forest. It seemed as though she was lost, because she'd slowed down and was moving around in zigzagging turns, and I was about ready to ask her what had happened.

She let out a loud gasp and began to trot quickly as I grabbed on to the ropes to keep from falling off.

"What happened?"

"I found it!" came her reply.

I didn't know what she was talking about, but it didn't take long for me to see what she meant.

We stopped, and in front of us stood a wooden shack, abandoned and close to toppling over. The boards were creaking against the strong winds, with the snow coming in from the breaks in the walls, and most of the window panes were boarded up and either cracked or broken. Several paces away stood a solitary windmill that looked to be in the same shape as the house, its blades turning quickly with each gale that blew by.

"It's perfect!"

She went right up to the door, towing me along, and gingerly turned the knob, as though afraid that the whole thing might break under her touch.

She raised her fist happily as the door creaked open and stayed intact. Slowly, she pulled me inside the threshold, the sleigh screeching lightly as it ground against the floorboards. After handing me the lamp, she closed the door behind us as I took a look around.

The only things inside the receiving room were a table and three chairs, and kitchen counters to the side opposite the door. The backdoor was padlocked. In the corner were stairs that led both up and down. Two doors led off into two smaller rooms. Other than that, the place was empty and it looked like it had been left to fend for itself against the elements for years.

Shingle set her bag down on the table, which stood sturdy even after the sudden weight, and uncovered her face.

"Well it's not pretty," she said while putting her hands on her hips and looking about with a smile, "but we can at least hide here for the night and let the excitement die down."

I propped myself up and was able to sit up with some effort.

She knelt up in front of me. "Hey, you seem a lot better, kid."

"It's only because I was able to rest up. If I move around too much or too suddenly, the pain starts up again and gets worse."

Her nostrils flared in reply. "I was only trying to lighten up the mood..." She sounded disappointed.

I didn't have time to give a response when I started to hear movements coming from outside.

"There are people nearby," I whispered.

Shingle nodded her head and crept silently up to the nearest window, peeking over the rotting wooden board nailed across it. She looked outside for several moments, before looking at me with a hard expression and telling me, "Stay there."

She walked up to me, took the lamp and opened the door, all so quickly that I had barely processed her words when she closed the door behind her, barring the snowy gales from entering the house.

What was she doing? She could expose us just by going outside and being discovered!

What if she really was in league with Doflamingo, and this was their agreed rendezvous point?

Well, it was obvious. I didn't have any way of telling who was out there or what was happening. I had no way to tell if the people Shingle was meeting outside were friends or foes. The only way I could find out... was if I went up to the window.

I grabbed the chair beside me and got on my knees, then, slowly, on my feet. I moved carefully, sensitive to the tiny pricks of pain in my muscles and bones that would flare up if I moved the wrong way.

It took a while but I finally shuffled my way to the window. Keeping my back flat against the wall, I took a steadying breath and looked over my shoulder and outside.

I could see the lamp shining in Shingle's hand, illuminating her and two other figures...

Marines. The blue uniforms and rifles in their arms were easy to make out in the light. And Shingle... was wearing a white gi, the sleeves covering her all the way to her wrists and down to her ankles, along with her scarf and goggles. Her cloak was missing.

I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it seemed like they were questioning her. She was turned away from the house, so I couldn't see her face or guess what she might be telling them. The two men's faces, as far as I could tell, were stern and suspicious. Shingle pointed at the house, and pointed away from it, back towards the direction of the town we had seen, and she started desperately waving her arm holding the lamp in a passion.

The two marines looked at each other and spoke in mutters, as though trying to decide what to do, when out of nowhere a large and heavy branch was thrown out of the surrounding trees right towards them. I had nearly cried out when it was mere inches from hitting Shingle and the two men, who all managed to jump out of the way in time.

Shingle flashed her light in the direction it came from, and even I gasped when I saw a dark hooded figure billowing in the wind. It was Shingle's cloak.

Animated, it moved about and more thick branches were hurled towards them one after the other, and they all struggled to keep from getting hit. Finally, the cloaked figure turned and sped away. Shingle shouted and exclaimed something about the figure being who they were looking for, and without a second thought, the two marines ran after the figure and into the thicket of trees.

Her eyes trailed after them for a while, before she started walking back towards the house, face triumphant. Then I noticed that there was something strange about her left arm. The sleeve was billowing too much in the wind... Almost as if she didn't have an arm in it.

She opened the door and heaved it closed behind her with one hand after setting down the lamp, and started with shock when she saw me standing by the window.

"Hey kid, what are you doing?!" She quickly grabbed the chair I had used to stand myself up with and helped me take a seat.

I took a deep breaths, and looked at her. There was no hand coming out of her left sleeve.

"Ah, so you were watching what happened outside?" She grinned and patted down the place where her left arm should've been but wasn't.

"Well you see Law, my devil fruit didn't give me the power to control wind, per se. I can actually turn into wind. Like I said, I'm a wind human.

You could probably guess it yourself, but I turned my arm into wind and had it carry my cloak so that those marines would think that there was a pirate or something going around and bothering innocent people. I gave them some made up story and they followed my cloak away from us. I don't think they'll suspect me though. When they find 'him' gone, they'll decide that he got away. Hehe, pretty clever huh?"

I had to admit that was impressive.

"Anyway kid, you should get some shut-eye. You'll be needing your strength when this blizzard blows over."

"I won't be able to get any rest while I know we might get caught in here."

She made an exasperated grunting noise while throwing her arm in the air. "Look, I'm going to protect you okay, so don't worry about it! I'll spend the night keeping watch."

"But why?! Why would you do this for me when you don't even know me?!" I slammed my fist on the wall, and immediately a shock of pain went through my arm, deep into my torso, and spread throughout my body. My head started throbbing and I was panting, as though the air in the room had been shut out and I was on the edge of asphyxiation. My vision blurred into spots of black and white before coming back and seeing Shingle's terrified face as she held me up.

"God dammit, kid...!"

She held me close to her shoulder, and before I knew it, everything was black.


	4. Chapter 3

Sorry about how long it took to crank out this chapter. It was a very sad, almost disgusting combination of writer's block and the deadly condition known as 'Unemployment NEET-ism.' Anyways, enjoy! :) Notes at the end!

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3

It was morning when I woke up. The sunshine filtered through the closed broken window as I came to my senses. I felt a lot better. I even sat up and dangled my feet over the bed without any pain as I tried to collect my bearings.

The wooden room I was occupying was dirty, small and sparsely decorated. Leaves, broken pieces of wood and other debris scattered across the floor. I was sleeping on a bed fit for one, with a blanket spread underneath me. A rotting desk sat in the bottom corner and at the foot of the bed was a small sofa that looked recently slept in. Shingle's cloak was draped over it.

Where _was_ Shingle?

The door leading outside was open. I could hear shuffling sounds coming from right outside.

Should I get up and look for her or should I stay put and be found?

It didn't take long for me to choose my answer. I put a bit of weight on the balls of my feet, then the soles, then pressed my feet on the ground. I felt a small twinge of pain at my ankles and knees, but it was like getting pelted with pillows compared to the hell I experienced just yesterday.

I got up, standing erect and breathing deep. It was a good feeling- empowering even- being able to stand by yourself after several hours of immense pain and fatigue. Having a chronic incurable illness made you realize that you had to take what you could get.

I walked through the door and found Shingle. She was dressed like a martial artist, with a long white gi over her black top, loose white pants and black flats. On the table were bread and other pastries, apples and bananas, soup and rice, as she just finished taking them out of a paper bag.

Her face lit up when she saw me. "Hey! You're awake! And you look great!"

It was too early for her to be so excited. She ushered me onto the wobbly old chair and I sat down, with her taking the seat across me.

"I bought this at that town we saw. And no worries. Apparently the Navy did come around there, but they left right away."

She took a sweet roll and ate it enthusiastically, then gestured for me to dig in.

As she raised her left hand to her mouth to take a bite, I noticed a white band around her middle finger. The blood ran out of my face.

"... Hey. Is something wrong, kid?"

"That ring," my voice sounded shaky even to me. "Is that made of amber lead?"

She seemed jarred by my reaction and looked worriedly at me. "N-No. Well, I know its porcelain... I mean, I don't even know what amber lead is, so yeah. I guess I wouldn't really know..." she mumbled while her eyes never left my face.

I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

"I see."

She stayed silent while eyeing me, her mouth a tight line of concern. I felt stupid reacting that way. Ever since my city was burned down, I've been suspicious or hateful towards white things.

I decided to start eating. It would be idiotic of me not to take this opportunity to feed myself, not when it might be one of my last meals.

I took an apple and bit into it, while I saw Shingle fidgeting in her seat.

"So... What do you plan on doing now?"

The question caught me off-guard for a second, but I answered nonchalantly, "I'll just keep doing what I've been doing and-" -look for a cure- "-keep running from the people trying to catch me."

I expected her to reply, but she simply kept looking at me with worry etched on every part of her face.

"What's wrong?"

She rested her head on her hand. Her gaze was steady on me, but it was as though she were looking not at my features on the surface, but much deeper, at something inside me that I seemed not to notice or even be aware of. Then she looked away.

"...too strong..."

I couldn't hear what she'd mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"You're sick, Law."

"I know that," I spat more than said.

Of course I knew that. Better than anyone, I knew. I knew the pain and suffering that came with my condition, and how each passing day would make it worse and worse til I finally dropped dead, just like so many before me.

She looked hurt. I hadn't meant to get irritated. She was a stranger, and really I should've been grateful for everything she'd been doing since she found me, but I was running out of time and options.

"Isn't there any way to cure your condition?" She finally ventured to say.

I would be lying if I said I hadn't been waiting for that question.

"There's no known cure."

"So... That means you've been trying to find one?"

She was more perceptive than I'd thought. This time I was the one who fell silent.

"I mean, I guess I shouldn't even ask, since it would be pretty obvious you'd be looking for a way to make yourself better," she said, eyes downcast. "I mean, who wouldn't, right?"

"But well," she continued, "even if you intend to keep looking, you're not in any state to do so. A few steps and you might collapse!"

As much as that was true, there was nothing else left for me now. Was I supposed to just lie around and die in agony? And why did she care so much anyway?

"Hey, I got it!"

I couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at her.

"Why don't you stay in this abandoned shack for a while and I can take care of you?"

...

"What? Too straightforward?"

"I can't tell if you're being serious."

"I'm completely serious!" she exclaimed with a goofy grin that just added to my suspicions.

"And why the hell would you help me?"

"To be honest," she said while stretching, "I really have nothing better to do. I'm a drifter, kid- going where the winds take me, like I said. Or I guess, I'm the one moving the winds around, haha."

She took a look at my face.

"Ahem… A-Anyway, I do whatever I want, and right now I wanna help you."

That was the most ridiculous thing she'd said since I met her. And that was saying a lot.

"There's no way I can believe that."

"Oh come on, I know I'm extremely suspicious, but you have to admit that it's a pretty good offer!"

I was almost impressed that she was aware of just how suspicious she was.

"There's no way anybody would do that without having anything to gain," I reasoned harshly.

At this, Shingle fell silent. She didn't look upset and angry, just sort of sad, as though it hurt her to know that I still hadn't decided to put my trust in a complete stranger.

"Well…." She stood up, and placed her hands on her hips, her brow still heavy as she started looking around her like she had no idea what to do next.

"I guess… there's really no changing your mind if you really don't trust me. I mean, I can't blame you. Dangerous times, dangerous people, y'know? A lone kid like you in the world has to look out for himself….

I will respect your decision." Her mouth was a tight line after this final declaration, and she walked up to the door, and opened it carefully before stopping for a moment.

"Go ahead and finish eating." Then, she left.

…What was this? Was she actually feeling depressed, or was this some elaborate ploy to get me to lower my guard? And _why_ in the world did she leave the shack?

… Was she being dramatic?

If I really thought about it, she could've kidnapped me by now. I could've been drugged, mortally wounded, restrained, or done in through countless other methods of incapacitation. And, given my weakened state, it would've been more than an easy feat. But, the fact of the matter was that I was still very much alive and able… Well, as able as my condition allowed me.

If I really did take her up on this offer, it would give me time to figure out just how to use my devil fruit powers. The Op Op fruit was, after all, the supposed legendary cure of all cures. She could even help me figure it out. At the same time, I wouldn't have to worry about being on the run or where to get food or shelter.

But was it worth the risk? If I was captured, how could I ever face Cora-san?

No…. Cora-san was dead, and there was no way I could ever see him again.

Cora-san saved me… but why? He was an undercover agent for the Navy, shadowing his own brother to provide the World Government with valuable information on their operations, and he tried to stop younger members from joining in their organization. Members like me. He'd even kidnapped me when he found out that I was ill, and vowed to help me find a cure, bringing me to all the corners of North Blue to do so. And finally, when he got information that the Op Op fruit was on this island, he fought through sea and storm to bring me here and make sure I got the fruit so I could heal myself. He even threw his life away.

But why? Why would someone do that, with nothing to gain for themselves? Back then, when I was still loyal to Doflamingo, the only thing I thought about was destroying everything in sight, and tearing down the world that took everything from me. I was determined for Cora-san to be exterminated by my superior and his lackeys for daring to cross me.

But ever since that man died, I understood.

Cora-san did that because he was a good person. He cared about me because he knew what it was like to be alone. He died for me because he wanted me to go on living.

He _loved_ me.

This woman…. I didn't want to admit it, but so much of her reminded me of Cora-san. The way she spoke and grinned and laughed. Her willingness to help those in need. It was almost as if a second Cora-san had simply taken the first one's place.

... I guess that settled it.

I started to stand up. My muscles and joints started aching, but it was bearable, and I ignored the sensations as I walked up to the front door and opened it.

Sunlight hit every part of my body as I stepped outside, and I had to blink away the brightness for a few seconds as my eyes adjusted to the world around me. The landscape was blanketed with a considerable amount of glimmering snow, with the trees and bushes glistening as the light bounced off the ice crystals- a pristine white wonderland. My mind's eye brought back the image of a white city. I bit back the negative emotions welling up inside me, all the pain that threatened to burst out, and I continued on.

The chilly morning wind sent shivers through my body, but it was enough to distract me from the pain that was building up in my arms and legs. I had to find Shingle.

It wasn't hard. She sat on a ledge overlooking a slowly sloping inclination, down into a wide plateau. In the distance, about a few kilometers away, I could see the town that she had told me about last night, the one we had avoided.

I approached the spot of black on the white canvass. It seemed she was completely lost in thought, because she hadn't noticed me come up behind her.

"Hey."

She started violently as she turned to look at me, so much so that I started myself.

"Holy shhh-crap, kid!"

She stood up quickly, dusting herself off while avoiding eye contact with me, embarrassed. "I'm really sorry…I'm kind of a jumpy person, so I scare easy." She chuckled half-heartedly, as though she knew only _she_ had found the whole thing funny.

"Anyways, what's up? You finished eating? And is it alright for you to be walking around like this? You should probably rest."

Her mouth went off like a Gatling gun, and there were too many unnecessary questions in that statement.

"I'm doing okay. I'm not done eating. I have something to say."

"Oh… What is it?" Her expression dampened, like she was steeling herself up for me to say that I was up and leaving that instant.

I drew a deep breath. I felt like I was on the verge of regret over what I was about to say. Might as well make it quick.

"I'll take you up on your offer."

….

"What?"

Shingle's face looked like it had been frozen in time, and her gaping mouth was almost comical.

"For real?"

"I realize it would be more of an advantage for me if I decide to focus on resting and making myself better."

"So… you trust me?" Shingle's face brightened up like the blinding first rays of a sunrise. It was terribly uncomfortable.

"…."

"I guess that's a 'no', then." Her face fell just as quickly as it had lit up, but immediately she began smiling again when she looked up at me.

"Well, whatever! I'm really happy!" She got up and put her fist in the air, whooping like a kid who got a long-coveted toy.

"But if you don't mind my asking," She looked at me curiously, "what made you change your mind about the whole thing, kid?"

This lady didn't seem to have any trouble switching emotions at the drop of a hat….

I sighed. "If you make me think about it too hard, I might change my mind." I warned, starting to feel tired without it having to do anything with my physical health.

"Okay okay, geez." She held her hands up in surrender and walked up to me.

"Now let's get back inside. I'm freezing, and we can talk about our game plan. Sound cool?"

I nodded, and we walked back to the decrepit shack. The snow piling up into irregular stacks on the roof shingles, and it looked barely able to hold up the weight. Shingle seemed to notice this as well, and blew a breath that steadily grew into a large gust that swept away the snow.

"Cozier already," she remarked.

….

* * *

Notes:

IMPT: Well, if ya haven't caught on by now, this story is pretty tame at the beginning in terms of heart-stopping events. Throughout, this story will mostly be a young Law rediscovering himself in a more docile environment (though there will be some action later, definitely!), so please keep these things in mind :)

Zawa Zawa fruit: So basically the name comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia of a strong wind blowing. (' _Zawa zawaaa')_ Its English name is the Gust Gust fruit. I kinda f*cked with the consistency of whether I'd be using the English/Japanese, so for clarification, its Op Op fruit and Zawa Zawa fruit. OTL

Fun fact: Apparently some of the side effects of lead poisoning are insomnia, aggressiveness and irritability. Hmm.

Everybody is free to ask Qs Constructive criticism and feedback are GREATLY appreciated.


	5. Chapter 4

Hey there! You are a lovely person! You are wonderfully you!

And I just remembered that I should put up some disclaimers. I DO NOT own One Piece. The only character I own here is Claviger Shingle. So far, anyway... But we'll come to that later.

Anyways, enjoy!(?)

* * *

4

….

After discussing our options over breakfast and coming to an agreement on our plan, Shingle decided she would start by heading into town and finding work for money. I watched from the window as the short, black-haired lady waved back at me enthusiastically before disappearing from sight by jumping down the ledge.

She really was a weird one.

Meanwhile, I finished my breakfast, slowly and surely, and decided to take a look around. I was going to have to get familiar with the house and the area if I intended to stay here for an extended period of time.

I started by taking a quick walk outside and took a turn around the building, the pain in my body an ever-present, dull ache for the moment. My breath came out as icy wisps that quickly dissipated in the cold air, and there was a persistent silence, but it wasn't unwelcome, especially with Shingle's mouth incessantly going off every few minutes.

Behind the shack was what looked to be the edge of a forest, the trees growing closer together as I peered deeper inside. From it, sloping gently towards the windmill in the near distance, was a stream. For the moment, it was completely frozen over.

I returned inside after my short tour. Shingle and I had both agreed that it would be dangerous for me to stay out for too long. Not only would it tire me out unnecessarily, but if anyone hostile came along, I would have no real chance of defending myself. I would have to hide myself as best I could these next few days, especially when I considered just how persistent and thorough Doflamingo could be. As cowardly as it was, I wasn't an idiot, nor did I have any plans on dying anytime soon.

The ground floor of the small house was made up of a receiving room, where the dining table sat, a bathroom that was just as clean as you'd expect for an abandoned building, and the bedroom where I had woken up in. The cupboards in the kitchen area were empty, except for a few rusty utensils, empty cans and a broken pot, and the surfaces were lined with green moss that was glossed over with a thin layer of frost.

A short flight of stairs led to the attic, and there was an open trapdoor behind the stairs with a metal ladder leading down the hole, most likely to a room beneath the floorboards. But… Why would a small shack like this need a basement?

I decided to go up the stairs for now. It wouldn't bode well for me if I ended up trapped in the basement if the ladder gave way, with no way to tell Shingle where I'd disappeared to. It would be a very depressing way to die.

The stairway was relatively intact. The old steps creaked, threatening to collapse under me as I maneuvered myself upstairs. When I reached the top and found myself in the attic, I was greeted by rays of sunlight that filtered into the dusty, quiet room through two broken windows, one facing the front and back of the house each. I walked about, and with all the loud groaning the floorboards were making in protest to the sudden weight, I wouldn't have been surprised if the whole building decided to come crashing down under me.

The floor was strewn with dried leaves and a considerable layer of grime. All over the room I found a variety of different household things stacked together. There were folded up carpets and lengths of cloth, piles of hemp rope and a bunch of empty cloth sacks. A lone chest sat in one corner, and I opened it to find a small pile of used clothes and a simple, wooden photo frame on top of them. I picked up the frame, turned it and found a photo inside it.

There was an old man and woman sitting side by side, both smiling, quiet and content. They were poised in front of a small picturesque building that looked like a shop, but it didn't look anything like the building I was in right now.

Despite the fact that the picture was faded and the edges were frayed and worn with age, I could tell it had been a very warm scene. It reminded me of the many pictures that had once filled my family's photo album, and the ones taken of my class in the Medical Academy. I'm sure that none of those photos survived after the city had burned down. A ball of bile threatened to rise out of my throat, but I held it back.

I couldn't help but wonder where the couple in this photo could be now, and why they had decided to leave this place... But there was no use thinking of such things, so I put the picture aside.

I decided I might as well show the clothes to Shingle and see if we could use any of them, so I brought them along with me. I closed the chest, and made my way back downstairs. The ache in my arms grew stronger as I walked down the steps. It was pitiful to think that after all the blood and sweat I'd shed and the strength I'd gained under Doflamingo's tyrannical training regimen, carrying a bunch of clothes would prove so tiring.

The clothes plopped down on a heap as I set them down, and I steadied my breaths after my chest had started getting heavy. After taking some deep breaths, something that had become a sort of hourly ritual, I set my sights on my main problem: Figuring out how to use my powers.

….

" _Look kid," Shingle had said from across the table before she left. "This is gonna be a two-man job. I'll be doing the working, and you'll be doing the resting."_

 _Whatever job required resting was definitely no job at all._

" _But I hope you're okay with the idea of hiding up in this dingy place? I know it's not the best environment for a growing boy to live in, but it looks like you really don't want to be found, so…." Her tone was tinged with humor, but I could tell she really was sincere about asking whether I was comfortable living here._

" _It's fine. We don't really have a choice. Staying at an inn would attract too much attention and would cost too much, and I don't think you have much money with you since you move from place to place. Also, this place is out of the way, so if we ever need to escape, it would be a lot easier." Besides all that, I've been exposed to_ much _worse than this._

"… _."_

" _What?" I felt a bead of sweat go down my forehead. She was beaming at me._

" _Haha… it's just that you're so smart! I was just speechless for a sec. Dang."_

" _H-Huh?" I suddenly felt my cheeks tint up, and I grit my teeth._

 _She laughed at my expression. "Aww, you're so cute. You don't have to feel embarrassed."_

 _Before I could retaliate, she continued._

" _You're right. I'm about as broke as a…. doorknob. That doorknob, specifically." She quickly pointed at the front door. The doorknob was rusty and on the verge of falling right off the door. "I only have enough for us to live off of for a couple of days. And if you had a huge wad of cash buried somewhere, you probably would've brought it to my attention by now. Or you're hiding it for some reason, which is okay, too._

 _Because of all those things, I need to make sure that we have enough cash to live on while you're recovering. You're a bright kid," she beamed at me again, "so maybe you could also use that time to think up some ideas of how you could get better?_

 _Of course, I hadn't yet told her that I had eaten a devil fruit…. It was now or never._

" _Actually, I do have an idea of how I can get healed."_

" _WHAT REALLY?!" She screamed in my face, so loud that I covered my ears for my own protection, and slammed the table as she stood up. "Well why didn't you say so?! Let's hear it!"_

" _You don't have to be so loud!"_

 _She immediately shrunk back, her eyes wide and mouth puckered._

" _Sorry."_

 _I sighed._

"… _I have a devil fruit ability too, but I don't know how to use it."_

 _She looked at me with a genuinely amazed and curious expression. I couldn't tell whether she wasn't really just a kid in a grown woman's body._

" _Holy crap, really? What is it called? What can it do? And you think it could really help cure you?"_

 _I answered each question shortly. "Yes. It's the Op-Op fruit and I was told that it gives you the power to cure any condition."_

" _Whoa! That's great! I mean... wow! This could work!" Shingle was beside herself with hope._

" _But the thing is, I have no idea how to activate my power, and I don't know exactly how it's supposed to work."_

" _I see…. That is quite the dilemma…."_

" _I was thinking you could help me figure it out."_

" _Ah, oh yeah! I'm a devil fruit user too, aren't I?" She laughed._

 _Wasn't that a bit obvious?_

" _Well, young one. Worry not!" It was a little too late for that. "I'll give you a few tips so you can figure out how your power works, and while I'm out, you can practice."_

" _Well, first of all, you never really know what your ability is unless you keep trying to figure it out, or you somehow know about the fruit before you ate it._

… _By the way, how did you get such a conveniently useful devil fruit?" she asked, almost suspiciously, her brow cocked._

 _That stopped me for a second._

" _I… actually stole the fruit when I found out what it could do." I looked down, trying to avoid eye contact with her and making myself seem as pitiable as possible. I didn't really want to lie to Shingle, but if I decided to tell my story right then and there, of the tragedies that led up to our meeting, and that the fruit and its power had cost more than what common folk could make in two lifetimes, then all this would turn out much differently._

" _So that's why you're on the run! There must be swarms of people after you." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I can't blame you for wanting to hide out and run away, and, as much as I disapprove of stealing-" Didn't you tell me you were a pirate? "-I guess, in a way, the situation called for it. And anyway, it's not like you can give it back, huh? You already ate the thing!_

 _Going back, it'll probably take a while before you can figure out how to activate it at will." She stood up and stretched. "For now, since your power involves healing, you should try imagining… a sort of colored aura surrounding your body," she stretched out her arms in a circle around her, "and see if it gives you a strange sensation or if you see anything happening with your body. Otherwise, you can try imagining some sort of energy out of your hand" she gestured as though some imaginary beam was shooting out of her outstretched palm. "You could start by picturing out a small area so that it's more concentrated. That might give you more of a result."_

….

I stared hard at my open palm, white blotches imposed on my pale skin, and I clenched it hard. How was I supposed to learn to use a power I knew next to nothing about?

Cora-san had told me, with his dying breaths coming out in chuckles, no less, that it didn't work like magic when I was trying to heal up his wounds. I suppose that was his way of saying that you couldn't just imagine what you wanted and it would suddenly happen.

I began with Shingle's first suggestion, and imagined myself enveloped in a sort of thin sheet of "aura". Maybe the Op Op fruit's powers only worked on the person who ate it? I sat still, closed my eyes and focused on this visualization. After several minutes, I even started humming low, remembering the stories of monks and other martial artists meditating under waterfalls and at the edge of deadly ravines.

I cracked one of my eyes open and found that nothing was happening.

This obviously wasn't working.

Next, I held my hand out in front of me, willing something, _anything_ , to happen. After about five minutes, my hand was shaking with the effort of the imagined energy I was shooting out of it, and the joints in my arm were beginning to numb uncomfortably, a familiar sign that meant I was beginning to tire out and the rest of my body would start hurting as well. I decided to give it a rest for now.

I guess I shouldn't have expected it to be so easy. If I could just will my powers to appear, they would have by now and I wouldn't be in this mess.

I spent the next few hours alternating between resting myself as I kept the spasms in my body under control and trying different positions and visualizations in my head.

It was sometime in the early afternoon when Shingle returned. After a few knocks and I confirmed it was her, I opened the door as she walked in with a pile of paper bags in her arms. She had brought back more food, but more noticeably, at the base of everything she'd been carrying, she had brought back books.

"Hey yo, how's the practice been going, kid?"

I was about to answer, but she was struggling to put down what she'd been holding onto the table, and I took some of the weight off her hands, though even this was difficult for me to do.

"Oh thanks- Hey now, don't worry, I've got it from here." I was unconvinced. She was clumsily dropping bags unto the tabletop.

"By the way, you should take a good look at that book your holding." Her smile was huge. "I think it might help you out a bit."

I stared at the dusty, rust-colored, leather tome in my shaking hands and read the cover, my eyes widening. The title of the book was painted in huge gold letters across the front. It read: Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.

"This is…!"

"Yup! I decided to take a quick trip to the local library and borrow a few books since we'll be here for a while, and viola! Pretty lucky find, huh?"

It was more than lucky. This was exactly what I needed. A devil fruit as well-known as mine would definitely have a page or two in here.

I ignored the numbness in my fingers and clouds of dust as I quickly opened the book and tore through the pages, searching for a picture of the fruit I had eaten….

 _There._

'THE OP OP FRUIT' was written clearly at the top of the page in the middle of the book, with an unmistakable illustration of my devil fruit, a small red heart-shaped berry with every inch covered in thin, black swirls.

"Wow, that's it, huh? It really is impressive-looking." Shingle was looking over my shoulder, but I paid her no mind for the most part as I hurriedly began to read the text.

 _Type: Paramecia_

 _This devil fruit allows its user to create a spherical space that emerges from their hands, in which the user has complete control over the placement and orientation of the objects inside, whether living or inanimate, and is able to manipulate the objects freely. The user is henceforth known as a Free Modification Human._

 _The fruit has been known for its "miraculous" properties, such as having the ability to cure illness and repair wounds when used by a person with sufficient medical knowledge. The fruit has the unique ability to dismember living creatures without causing bleeding or death, as long as these remain within the sphere's confines. Removing and reattaching body parts presents no bodily harm to those within. Thus, the fruit has been coveted in medical fields as the most efficient and effective method of healing._

I reached the end of the page and drew the breath I had unconsciously been holding. This fruit's powers were incredible. I remembered the first time Cora-san had told me about it, and even then I thought it was ridiculous. Now that I had this power, would I really be able to control _anything_ within this 'sphere'? I continued on to the next page- the last paragraph.

 _It is often nicknamed 'The Ultimate Devil Fruit' as anyone who possesses the fruit's powers has the ability to grant eternal youth to another person in exchange for the user's life. The procedure is known as the 'Perennial Youth Operation.'_

'Perennial Youth Operation'? Eternal youth? This fruit was even more powerful than I ever imagined. In theory, with this, someone could live forever…..

My blood ran cold.

 _Doflamingo_.

 _This_ is what he wanted. _This_ was his goal for getting the fruit all along. I was sure of it! Cora-san must have known, suspected that his ruthless older brother would do whatever it took to rule the seas, which is why he planned on us taking the fruit for ourselves and running away for good. And now I realized that as long as I was alive, as long as Doflamingo could find me, he wouldn't rest until he caught me and forced me to perform the operation on him.

"Law…. This power is… absolutely amazing!"

I stared at her, and ecstatic expression quickly disappeared as her brows hung down in worry.

"Hey… You okay, kid? You seem even paler than usual."

I let the book fall open on my lap, and took a deep breath. "I'm okay," I lied.

She placed her hand gently on my hat and looked at me softly, as though I had just woken up from a nightmare. "Take it easy, Law. I know you want to get better as soon as you can, but that was a lot of information to take in, so just… please… rest up before you try activating your power again, okay?"

I felt my aching arms go limp. I didn't realize how tense I had been until she told me to relax.

She grinned. "Much better."

"I brought these, too." She grabbed the other books and put them in front of me. I felt my eyes widen. They were medical books, ranging from Anatomy to Biological Chemistry. "Figured we'd need these. I know a thing or two about medical stuff, if you'll believe me, and my guess is that probably you do, too, if you've been looking for a cure this whole time.

Anyway, I'm gonna go ahead and clean this place up, and you sort out what you need to do, okay?"

"…Thank you."

I carefully picked up 'Anatomy for Practical Uses,' a white book that I had easily recognized since we had used them before in our classes, and felt its weight in my hands.

It had been too long since I'd held a medical book. I'd forgotten all about my dreams of healing people and becoming the best doctor in the world when my family died. All I could think about from then on was destroying things and making people suffer. Cora-san, my parents, Lami- they all believed in me and supported me. Maybe now I could finally be a doctor, and the first person I would heal would be myself.

"These are great, Shingle…. Thank you…." I felt the tears burn my eyes, but I rubbed them away before they could escape. I think she pretended not to see.

She gave me two gentle pats on my back. "No problem, kiddo." I heard her footsteps lead away into the bedroom, as I finally gave in to the tears I'd been holding back for years.

* * *

Notes:

Promise there will be a _bit_ more action happening next chapter. Woohoo!

I used the One Piece Wikia's info on the Op Op fruit as a basis and paraphrased it for the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, and I decided not to give away all the details given on there (there was a LOT) since, thinking about it in the One Piece World's terms, the way a devil fruits powers are ultimately handled are through the creativity of the user, so I do think ultimately Law's way of using his powers is his personal interpretation of how they can be used. (Also it'd be way too easy to read everything from a book haha.)

TL;DR: It's not detailed so Law can have personal will

Please tell me what you think as well!

I also learned that 'Zawa Zawa' is also commonly known as the Japanese onomatopoeia for an uneasy atmosphere. W-What a coincidence, hahaha…

Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 5

A huge hello to everyone! Please enjoy the next chapter :)

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own One Piece and its quirky, beautiful characters. I only own my one quirky, awkward OC featured in this fanfic. I also do not own yellow mold. You'll get it when you read the chapter.

* * *

5

The icy wind started to pick up as night was falling over us. Even with the lamp shining brightly on the table of the living area, the dark enveloped us like a cold blanket. I was wearing the jacket she gave me last night, but since I was used to this kind of weather, it didn't bother me much.

Shingle, however, was a different story.

"Hey… you're not really used to the cold, are you?"

Her teeth chattered as she answered me. "No, not r-really. But I'm d-d-doing fine, I swear!"

"You didn't seem cold yesterday."

"That's because I was making a lot of body heat while I was moving around yesterday! And I was wearing my cloak," she exclaimed while rubbing the sides of her arms vigorously.

She had been moving around all day today, too. After she went into town and got back, she had cleaned up the house from top to bottom while I watched. She took a look at the attic, and apparently the basement didn't have much except for some broken furniture, and a leftover box of tools. She dusted and wiped the surfaces, swept the floors with an old broom, and even unclogged the toilet. It didn't make too much of a difference, to be honest, since everything was more or less frozen over, but I couldn't help but commend her for working so hard.

She also took note of everything that could be of use to us, from ropes to rags to bits of wood. After that, she repaired some of the broken things in the house, like the wobbly chair and unstable cupboards, by crudely nailing everything back up. It definitely wasn't pretty, but she sang cheerfully as she did all these chores. She was… a surprisingly decent singer. She belted out tune after tune and bobbed her head enthusiastically as she went along. It amazed me that someone could have so much fun cleaning. In fact I was starting to get tired watching her tire herself out.

And now that she _was_ tired, she couldn't distract herself from the cold, and would have to sit still and rest while we ate our dinner.

Right after downing a bowl of soup that had long since cooled off, she asked, "Any progress though on your powers?"

I had spent the most of the afternoon resting and turning over my devil fruit's description in the book. It specifically used the words "sphere" and "hands," so I guessed that I would have to visualize a ball forming in my palm? It also said that objects inside the sphere would be under my control… An apple on the table caught my eye.

I decided to finally test it out.

I held my hand out, hovering it beside the red fruit just enough that I wasn't touching it, and imagined it getting covered by a sort of sphere made of energy. I concentrated on that image, and stared down hard at the space between the fruit and my hand. Shingle watched in front of me with bated breath.

A spark, sort of like an electric shock, suddenly started from my hand. But it didn't hurt, and I didn't see anything…

Good. A sign that I was finally on the right track!

As I continued concentrating on making that sphere, I started to feel a gentle warmth around my hand, as though it was only a few inches from a small flame. My hand steadily grew warmer, and then the energy gathered to just at the center point of my palm.

Suddenly, a blue transparent sphere, about the size of a single grape appeared out of my palm, and then quickly expanded to completely envelop the apple. I couldn't believe my eyes.

I… did it.

"Holy crap, Law! You did it! Oh my gosh! There it is! Like… wow!" Shingle breathlessly exclaimed and clapped at my achievement, and I couldn't help but give in to her praise.

"I really did do it…!" I marveled at the soft blue glowing hue of the sphere in my hand, but made sure not to lose concentration since I thought the sphere might disappear. Still, it was amazing. I had been so skeptical of devil fruit powers from the beginning, but now….

I decided to slowly draw my hand away, and I half-expected the sphere to stay attached to my palm, but instead, it stayed in place, the apple sitting still and undisturbed inside.

The book said I could manipulate the objects inside the sphere, but how exactly was I supposed to do that? Well, I knew the only way to find out was to experiment, and so that was what I would do. Without breaking eye contact, I hovered my right hand right above the hollow blue ball and waved it like a fortune teller seeing into a crystal ball. The apple inside had begun to float, just at the center of the sphere's space, and then spin on an axis as I kept waving my arm above it. When I stopped, it stopped moving as well, hovering quietly, waiting for orders.

If it wasn't for the fact that I had seen Cora-san, Doflamingo and my former subordinates use their powers right in front of me, and the actual powers I was controlling right at that very moment, I'd have thought these sorts of things would be fairy tales or legend. But having powers was really, _really_ cool.

"That's a good look on you, y'know."

"Huh?"

She pointed at my face.

"That smile and look of wonder on your face is really an improvement. You should do that more often," she chuckled.

Smiling? Was I really? My cheeks started to flush with embarrassment.

Well, I couldn't deny that. I _was_ eager to start learning how to use my powers. _Excited_ , even. It was an incredible power, and one I knew I could eventually learn to control. But first, I had to figure out how it could cure me.

….

I woke up on the morning of the second day of our stay, and found that Shingle was already up and about, heating up breakfast and placing the last few plates of food in front of me after I took my seat at the table.

"There's way too much food on this table." I could almost hear it groaning under the weight it had taken on after years of disuse. "Why do you buy so much?"

"You're a growing boy, Law! I'm trying to make sure that you have a wide variety of food to choose from, with all those vitamins and minerals and things, especially seeing as you're gonna need all the energy you can get. Proper nutrition is very important for your recovery, y'know, and if you're not eating right it could ruin everything!" Damn, she was such an earful in the morning.

"And anyway, you probably haven't eaten properly for ages, have you? It shows!"

That last part was technically true. Cora-san and I had never really been able to sit down to a normal meal under a roof since he whisked me away from the Doflamingo family. And that was _before_ he started burning down hospitals for taking one look at my face and screaming for us to leave for fear of contracting my condition, so we weren't even public enemy #1 yet. Of course, Cora-san had never let me go hungry, he definitely made sure of that, and I'd experienced going days with little to no food. But with my body slowly deteriorating itself and the stress of moving from place to place constantly, it was no wonder I'd been reduced to skin and bone at the time. I looked down at my body. I was glad I was putting on more weight these days.

It's not like _Shingle_ was one to talk, though. She was quite skinny, but considering her height, or in this case, a lack thereof, it was probably better than being short and stout.

I picked up a piece of bread, a cinnamon roll, and stared at it little longer than I probably should have. Cora-san hated bread, to a point where it was ridiculous. He would often have a faint, lingering look of disgust when he saw any in a store and avoided pastry shops or bakeries fervently when we were travelling around. I never asked him about it; I didn't feel like it was that important at the time. But now… I sort of regret it.

"Hey kid, you not a fan of bread?" Shingle asked, eyeing the bun in my hand.

"It's just… that I haven't had bread in a while."

Ididn't dislike bread at all, so I took a bite. I paused. It tasted kind of weird, but it had been about half a year since I'd last eaten any, so I didn't think anything of it, and I finished the thing. I drank a glass of water to wash down the taste.

"Did it taste bad?" she chuckled.

"It tasted… old."

"Mm, I see…. I kind of agree. It does kind of taste weird. I think I'll give that bakery a piece of my mind if I ever go back. I probably _will_ , though, since bread _is_ pretty good, or rather _I_ think it is. There are just some people in the world who think otherwise, y'know?"

She huffed out a quick breath, and started staring at the bread in front of her, lost in thought.

"… Are you okay?"

She started, as though I'd just appeared right in front of her. "Me? Oh yeah, I'm fine, just spacing out. Don't worry, you're gonna see a lot more of that. I do it a lot." _Don't worry?_ "And hey, if you don't want any more bread, you can just leave it. I think it might've gone bad."

Before I could reply, my vision blurred. I fell off the chair and met the ground with a heavy thud as I doubled over, clutching at myself desperately. My skin was searing, like lava was getting poured all over me. It felt like my insides were churning together and ripping themselves apart, like my bones were getting twisted and squeezed, like my muscles were being cut open and sliced into pieces. I screamed through grit teeth.

"Law! Law, what's happening?!" I heard her fall on her knees beside me, and I looked at her through watery, stinging eyes.

"Law, what do I do?!"

I couldn't answer her even if I had wanted to. My chest felt like it was getting tighter and tighter. She didn't touch me, and I was glad she didn't. Everything hurt, and I thought I was going to pass out from the pain.

And then, just as suddenly as it had come, the pain ebbed away and then stopped completely.

I took deep gasping breaths, trying to regain myself as I sat up. Shingle supported me as I drew a lungful of air into my system, shutting my eyes.

"Holy hell, that was scary." She muttered as she warily rubbed my back. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I… don't know. I've never felt it that bad before."

"Law…. Look at your skin."

I opened my eyes and looked down at myself.

The white patches on my skin had become even whiter. What had once been a sort of pale white-washed color had now taken on an almost gleaming, snow-like hue on my arms and legs. I wouldn't have believed it could happen if I wasn't staring at the evidence of the amber lead on my body.

"Law… Oh my God, are you okay?" She looked at me with such anxious eyes, her lower lip quivering, that it was making me feel worse for not knowing what the hell was going on and making her worry for my life.

"I don't know what happened…. But I feel okay now." I opened and closed my hands and moved my joints around to see if that searing pain would have any lingering effects on me, but not only was the pain from earlier completely gone, the dull aching that I usually felt throughout my whole body because of my condition-

"I actually… feel better."

I stood up, with Shingle on her guard and holding me lightly as she followed suit. The malaise that hung over me and worsened as the day went on, had disappeared. I hadn't felt this good since my condition was still in its early stages over 2 years ago.

"Are you sure?" She was fretting and fussing as she circled around me, checking me from top to bottom as though I was an important piece of art made of glass that looked ready to topple over.

"I don't feel as tired as I usually do. And the pain in my body is gone, too."

She stopped in front of me, realization dawning on her face as she turned to the table.

"You don't think.-?"

I followed her eyes and saw that she was staring at the remaining cinnamon rolls on the table just as she snatched one up and broke the piece of bread in half.

"God da- shhh- CRAP."

She turned on her heel to face me. "Take a look."

In her hands I saw that the bread broken right down the middle had fuzzy yellow smudges inside it.

Mold.

Shingle hurriedly attacked the rest of the rolls and opened them all to find the mold had nestled into each piece of bread. She put a hand to her mouth and grew very silent, but I could tell she was distressed beyond words.

"Law, I am so sorry… I can't- I'm _so_ sorry…"

She probably felt guilty for buying bread that had gone bad and blamed herself for causing me pain….

I wasn't at all any good at comforting people. In fact I was used to cutting myself off from my emotions to make things easier to bear. But… I would at least try. I was really worried she was going to start crying for my sake.

"I-It's fine. I'm okay now. It's not your fault at all. I don't feel any pain anymore."

"… That's good…. I-I can't imagine if _this_ had ended up..." She let the end of the sentence hang in the heavy air, and I could tell that she was turning over a grim, devastating situation in her mind: _What if I had ended up dying because of her mistake?_

She stayed silent for a while longer, still staring at the bread and the yellow contents, before suddenly turning to me.

"Law," she began, her brows knit and her mouth a hard line, a sign that I started to become familiar with that meant that she had something serious to discuss, "you sure that your pain is gone?"

"Yeah, I don't feel any pain anymore…. It's really strange. I feel much better now, even after I felt like I was about to die from the pain earlier. Right now, I don't feel the aching pain or the exhaustion that I'm always feeling because of my condition…."

She looked deep in thought. "The mold most probably had some chemical or something that caused that intense episode you were having and also for what happened to your skin …. I'm pretty sure I ate it too, since it's in all the other rolls, but nothing happened to me, so that means that…"

"It's reacting negatively to the amber lead inside me."

"But…. What if it's not negative?" She stared at me with realization dawning in her steely gaze.

I stared wide-eyed at my hands when I processed her words. Yes…That… might be possible. I didn't feel sick, and I felt so much stronger than I had in months. Though I found myself on the verge of death in that moment, it was like I was being painfully cleansed of the toxins inside me. We had no idea what kind of mold it was or what it was capable of, so there was a chance that whatever was in that mold reacted with the amber lead inside me to take the toxins away, just like-

"Chelation."

We looked at each other. We had both said the word at the same time. She started to grin sheepishly.

"Well I guess we've both come to the same conclusion huh?"

She decided to take a seat, to which I followed suit, and examined the interior of the spoilt bread. "I mean I'm not all too sure, I'm pretty rusty on the medical know-how, but if I remember correctly, chelation therapy involves taking in some chemical or drug that binds with metal in the body to treat metal poisoning? Am I right?"

"Yeah, that's exactly right." She could fake all she wanted, but she wasn't rusty at all.

"So you think it might be possible, kid? That this yellow mold is a chelating agent?"

"That's almost too good to be true," I replied quietly. And really, it was. Scientists and doctors, with my father at the head of the operation, had spent years researching and testing for all the possible ways to cure the country's affliction. Chelation therapy was one of the first options they considered, but none of the usual chelating medicine had any effect on us. They tried to find alternatives and develop new drugs, but they had never found the right agent that bonded completely with the amber lead, and all of the attempts ended in failure.

I rubbed at the snow-white patches on my skin, now so bright that it seemed I'd be able to glow in the dark with them. I've never read about chelation therapy having the effect it had on me in any books, but then again, Amber Lead Syndrome was no ordinary case of metal poisoning.

"Well," she stared at her wrung hands, the white porcelain ring catching the sunlight, and squeezed them, "we can't really know unless we try to find out more. But of course, I'm not going to force you into experimenting with the mold on yourself. Heck, I'm kind of asking you _not_ to mess with this stuff. It looked like you were in so much pain, Law."

"It's true that it was really painful, the most pain I've felt in a long time," I paused as I remembered Cora-san and his efforts to save me, and imagined all the pain he'd experienced as he died, "but this might be something that could help me recover. I don't want to throw away an opportunity to get better.

Chelating agents bind to toxic metals in the body, and then you can excrete both of them out of the body through waste products. Well, that's how it's supposed to work normally…." I clenched my palms tight. "But I don't think it's going to be as easy as that. If anything, the lead is probably concentrated in my body in these spots now. If I practice enough and learn how to control the Op Op fruit power then, maybe… Maybe I can somehow remove the amber lead using my power…."

I could hear Shingle's worried laments just from the way she was looking at me.

I tried to ease her concern. "Even if it does end up hurting a lot, it will be worth it if I don't end up dying from my condition."

Her worried looks still hadn't disappeared.

I sighed. "I won't overwork myself, and I'll make sure to be careful."

She clamped her lips tight. "Don't hesitate to ask me for help if you need any, okay?"

"Alright alright! I will." I scratched my head. It was pretty exasperating having someone worrying about you all the time…. But it was nice, too.

I was sure of one thing, though, if I had to keep eating these things, I was definitely going to start hating bread.

* * *

Notes:

Thanks to everyone who's reading my story! Especially to sarge1130- Thanks so much for your lovely reviews. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate them. And yes, I'll be revealing a lot more about Shingle in the upcoming chapters, so please wait for them :)

To Apple Bloom (Guest): I'd like to hope that Shingle's presence has an impact on the way Law is as an adult, and you can read it that way if you want :)

I'm afraid if you guys want to learn more about Chelation therapy, you'll have to google it for a legit explanation. I really wanted to add in some elements of real-life treatments into the story, even if they did end up highly fictionalized haha. I'm going to put an itty-bitty disclaimer here again and say that there is no yellow mold I know of that has chelating properties, and I made the whole thing up. There _is_ yellow mold, though. Google that stuff if you're interested haha, but I guess you guys would rather not have the mental image.

The days have been dragging on quite a bit for those two, but time will flow on a bit more quickly from here on out.

Eat a lot of different food and stay healthy, everyone!


	7. Chapter 6

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great week so far :)

Once again, I _**do not**_ own One Piece. It all belongs to the glorious Oda-sensei, a creative, hardworking and hilarious man. (Not that I've ever met him, and I wish I could, but I'm sure he is all those things I mentioned and more!)

I don't own Trafalgar Law, or the other characters who appear in this work, except for Claviger Shingle.

Trigger warning for VIOLENCE.

* * *

6

...

From that moment on, we spent the next few days falling into a daily routine.

Shingle tended to wake up early in the morning, much earlier than me, which made sense considering the trek to the town took around 30 minutes. If I happened to wake up shortly after her, I would find her doing some light exercise warm-ups, like jumping jacks and squats, outside in front of the shack. She would also sometimes practice with the small sword I last saw her use on the night we first met, and she'd cut up some wood from the forest nearby with her wind ability.

After coming back inside, she'd heat up some food for us for breakfast in the kitchen and we would eat together. She ate very slowly, so much so that I'd often finish before her, and shortly after she was done, she would head off to town wearing some of the shabby clothes we found in the chest. Apparently, she started her day of work as an errand girl doing odd jobs for some wealthy households in the town.

"Those clothes are too big on you."

"Well, I have look the part, you know. Gotta make sure I'm keeping up the guise of a poor, innocent girl who's only looking for some work to support herself." She winked as she gestured at the baggy red t-shirt and loose brown pants, both patched up with mismatched colored pieces of cloth after she repaired them with a needle and thread. I guessed it was supposed to make her look like a peasant? Well, it worked.

"The town down there is called Shellburn, and I'd say it's pretty big considering it's in the middle of nowhere." She told me as she was getting ready to leave. "There are a bunch of rich families that live in huge houses, probably people descended from nobility, and the rest of the town is made up of small shop owners and fishermen, since the coast isn't that far off from here. There's a small Navy post in the town to keep the peace, but that's about it. They don't seem to be suspicious of me, which I think is a good sign that they're not in the know about us. But, I also heard there's a bandit gang around these parts, so we should be careful. You especially, yeah?" I nodded.

After she left, I would start training my powers. I made the attic my personal practice space and sidled up near the front window so that I could easily notice anyone approaching the house.

I quickly found out that my ability sapped up most of my energy after I used it. I spent the day balancing between rests and using my power. While resting, I'd pour over the medical books, with memories of my old lessons flooding back quickly. I memorized positions of bones and muscles, and read about their composition and the processes that ran them. I also gave myself refresher courses on biochemistry and pharmacology, especially since we found out that the mold in the bread was affecting me.

Shingle would come back to the shack for lunch, bringing back hot food, which she bought as take out from a restaurant or inn at the town. I noticed she never actually cooked for us, other than heating food up, but given my first-hand experience with her cooking, that was probably a good thing.

After we'd eat our meal together, she'd put on some fresh clothes, more presentable-looking ones from her own wardrobe, before going to the library, where she said she helped around. She said it made it much easier for her to borrow books as she pleased.

She'd come back late in the evening, bringing back dinner, and we'd eat with the lamplight and several candles illuminating our meal. Then she'd go to bed after writing in her small journal and fall asleep on the moth-eaten couch at the foot of the bed.

I usually stayed up well into the evening, studying and practicing by the lamplight. I trusted Shingle a lot more recently, but that didn't mean that we couldn't get ambushed in the dead of night by marines or pirates. We still had to be alert, especially when we were at our most vulnerable.

Every day I was learning something new about my ability. I practiced with the apple that had been the first subject of my sphere. I practiced conjuring the sphere at will, which was exhausting, but got a lot easier as time went on. Shingle had given me advice and said that it was much easier to activate your powers if you assigned a word for it. After just a few days, I'd mastered it to the point where I would say "ROOM," the word I started using since I likened the sphere to an 'operating room' of sorts, and the sphere would appear out of my palm.

I learned that the sphere was not only transparent but was also intangible, so if I wanted to practice with something else, I could just put objects in and take them out whenever I wanted. I also found out that I manipulated the things inside by moving my hands as though I were leading them to where they needed to go.

Since discovering the yellow mold, Shingle and I agreed that we would culture and grow it by mixing the cinnamon rolls with new pieces of bread inside one of the cupboards. I ate another piece of the contaminated bread in Shingle's presence, since we were both wary of the possibility that I might get seriously ill afterwards. However, the pain, although still enough to incapacitate me for a few seconds, hadn't lasted as long and was much more tolerable the second time around, and the after-effects were well worth a few seconds of torture.

Shingle was reassured to know it would probably hurt less and less the more I ate it. I found it funny that she was more relieved than I was about the whole thing. It was probably because, if or when it came down to it, I didn't mind going through excruciating pain if it meant I would be cured.

For the people who had lived in Flevance, Amber Lead Syndrome was something we inherited, something that was in our very bodies the moment we were born, so I doubted that a chelating agent would be enough to heal me. For that reason, I put everything I had into practicing with my powers.

I was determined to find out everything I was capable of. The book described my fruit's ability for spatial manipulation, which meant that healing didn't just happen with a flick of a wrist. If I had any hope of ridding myself of my condition, I was sure I would have to physically extract the amber lead out of my system. I thought of something like a sieve, straining out the unwanted substance, and focused my practice on that. I told Shingle my theory and she agreed with me, and told me she trusted my intuition.

Several more days passed this way, and when the weekend rolled around, Shingle spent the entire day at the house. She cleaned the house up and washed all our clothes. It was a good thing the stream had melted over. In fact, I noticed that the weather had been warming up steadily since we arrived. Maybe this island's bout of winter was going to end soon.

I had offered to help her, but she insisted that I had to put all my energy into worrying about myself. I appreciated the thought, but at the same time, I was beginning to worry about what a workaholic she was turning out to be.

"You're going to burn yourself out if you keep doing everything yourself." I stated.

She turned to me halfway through hanging up a shirt on the clothes line she set up between two trees, eyebrow cocked, and sarcasm coating her expression. "Yes, and I suppose you have some better ideas as to how I'm supposed to be doing the chores?"

A vein popped on my forehead. "I'm offering to help you! You're so stubborn." I spat.

Her expression, instead of annoyance, had actually brightened. "Aww, you _do_ care about me! I'm so happy!"

She pat my hat fondly and I swatted her hand away with a snarl. She laughed.

"Hey look, I really don't mind, okay? I'm, like, a lone ranger. I'm _used_ to doing everything myself, and, as crazy as it sounds, I actually _like_ washing dishes and cleaning and hanging up clothes. Just don't make me go near the kitchen, that's it." She whispered the last part like it was a scandalous secret.

"You'll be helping me most if you just keep your eyes on the prize and get yourself all fixed up. And tell you what, when you _do_ get better, _then_ I'll make you do some chores around here. Heck, maybe I'll make you do _all_ the chores." She said the last part with a flourish of her arms, looking around us as if everything was a chore.

"Tch, fine."

Since she'd made it clear that she didn't want any help, I went back inside, took my station up in the attic, and began studying and practicing. It wasn't until I had gotten up there that the irony of my statement had gotten to me. Hadn't I been the one, at first, who had refused help when she offered it to me when we met? I looked down and watched her for a while, and she waved up at me cheerfully, and for some reason, I felt both annoyed and thankful.

She had finished washing the clothes by the end of the morning and after we had lunch, I went back up and she decided she would reward herself by taking a long nap in the bedroom, while I went back to the attic.

And it really was a good thing that I had decided to start keeping watch from up there, because later that sunny, cold Saturday afternoon, Doflamingo appeared.

I heard the faint whirring of propellers from outside, like a huge fan was whizzing past from up above us. It was something I'd heard before, and my heart stopped when I realized that it sounded just like Buffalo when he was flying through the sky. But it couldn't be-

The whirring noises gradually grew louder, and sounded as though they were just beyond our doorstep. Then they slowed down to a stop, and I heard the crunch of snow underfoot.

"Hey why'd we decide to stop here- _dasuyan_?"

"That weird bandit pointed in this direction, and this shack is the only thing we've seen so far."

There was no mistaking those voices. It was Buffalo and Baby-5! How could they have found me so quickly? And it should have taken at least a few weeks before Doflamingo could come back to this island, given the battle that broke out between the pirates and the Navy had been too recent. No one had even known that I was here- I never even left. So… _how_?

I had to confirm it. Carefully, noiselessly, I turned my head a fraction from the edge of the window to look down below me.

It was them, right there, just a few meters from the entrance. A large lump of bile formed at my throat.

"But didn't that bandit from earlier say that the person who wasn't from town was a woman- _dasuyan_?"

"Young master said to check any suspicious people in the area, didn't he? If she knows anything about Law, then we need to confirm it."

I had to warn Shingle! If they found out I was here, then there would be no way for me to escape them. Even with Shingle's Zawa Zawa fruit, even _she_ might somehow be caught and killed by them if she tried to help me get away.

But, if I moved from my spot and rushed down the stairs, the noise would alert those two that someone was inside, and they might charge in and find me. There was no doubt in my mind that in my current state I would be captured or killed without difficulty. I would struggle until my dying breath, but I knew I wouldn't be able to fight my way out. I had no way of telling Shingle of the danger we were in without drawing attention to our enemies right outside.

Then I heard another pair of feet land on the snow-laden ground.

"Oh? Have you two found something interesting?"

My heart jumped right to my throat as I bit back my tongue from making a noise. I could recognize that voice anywhere- the voice that haunted my nightmares, the voice that crept at every corner of my mind, threatening to take my life away the moment I let my guard down. I knew that voice so well that I didn't want to risk stealing so much as a glance from my place next to the window, for fear of catching his eye and guaranteeing our deaths.

But I had to, and there he was.

It was Doflamingo himself, standing tall with his ever-present malicious smile plastered on his face. The bright light of the sun bounced off his sunglasses as he approached our small cottage, and my hatred and rage rose with every step he took.

It took every _ounce_ of my will for me not to jump out the window and kill him where he stood. This was the man who murdered Cora-san, his own brother, in cold blood; the man who took advantage of my despair and spent years molding me into a remorseless, psychotic killer fit to become his successor. But the logical part of me knew that attacking him now would throw everything I've been doing out the proverbial and literal window.

But…. what should I do? What _could_ I do?! Despite finally learning about my powers and how to use them, I still couldn't help anyone!

There was a frantic movement downstairs, and then the front door swung open with a loud crash.

Had they already stormed inside?

I heard a loud gasp, then Shingle's voice rang out in terrified bursts.

"Y-You're…. you're Doflamingo!"

"Fufuffu, someone who's in the know, I see! Well then this will make things much easier."

I heard Shingle shriek, and then a noise that could only have been someone getting hoisted into the air and thrown into the snow. She let out a grunt of pain. I couldn't bear to take a breath as I listened, my nails digging into my palms as I stopped myself from crying out for her to run.

"We're looking for someone. A kid with white spots all over his body. Have you seen anyone like that, miss?" I could hear the cold, sadistic grin in his voice.

"White… white spots? I… I don't know anything about th-!"

I heard her cry out as I heard a limb connect with a body, and I decided to muster all of my strength and look out the window. Shingle was several meters away from the house, doubled over, curling up into a ball and lying sideways on the ground, as the three of them surrounded her.

"Young master, I feel like I've seen this lady before- _dasuyan_ …"

"Hey! I recognize her!" Baby-5 suddenly exclaimed. "She used to work for us!"

Shingle… used to work under Doflamingo's crew? The same as me?

But… _why_?

"She used to be a maid in Spider Miles about a year ago, but she didn't even last a month and ran away crying!" Baby-5 continued, pointing accusingly at the injured lady who lay helpless in the cold snow.

"Oh yeah- _dasuyan_! I remember when Cora-san punched her in the gut after she dropped his drink on him."

Doflamingo towered over her as she was struggling to prop herself up. "Fufufuffuu, no wonder you ran away. What a coincidence, huh? I wonder if it's fate that we should be meeting in these circumstances! Maybe you'll be relieved to know that the man who punched you, my dear younger brother, turned out to be a damned traitor and was killed by my hands."

He stomped on her stomach and ground his sharp heel deep into her skin as she screamed. "I don't take well to people who leave the family, you understand? But I'll make this an exception if you can tell me something useful."

"I-I didn't run away! Please! I quit because I couldn't take it anym-! Ahhh **!** "

She screamed as he grabbed her by the neck and hoisted her up into the air at arm's length. She fruitlessly clawed at his relentless grip, trying to free herself, but his grip only tightened. The murderous pirate captain was twice her height, and she dangled so far from the ground that she would have gotten her bones broken if she was dropped.

"So, what will it be?"

"A-Alright alright, I'll talk! _I'll talk_!" Shingle cried between chokes and coughs of pain.

Doflamingo cackled and released her, and she fell into a crumpled heap. I let go of the breath I was holding when I saw that the snow broke her fall, but at the same time I was speechless, my blood running cold. She said she would _talk_. She didn't mean-?

She spoke weakly. "If you're talking about- about that sick boy with the white patches, I… I know where he is."

Was she…. She wouldn't betray me.

….Would she?

"I… I saw him and fed him five days ago. H-He told me he was running away from pirates...! I-I helped him get a boat. He was heading to Swallow Island, when I last- last saw him. He left behind his hat with me and boarded the boat at the dock down at Shellburn four days ago! He's long gone!"

"And that's true, is it? How do I know you're not just hiding him in the house?" Every hair at the back of my neck stood on end.

She was shaking as she gradually picked herself up and got on her hands and knees.

"… There's no way…. Me and that boy…"

"Hm? Well? Speak up!" Doflamingo demanded.

"There's no way I would've taken that brat in with me! That kid was infected with Amber Lead! I would die if I stayed any longer with him. I didn't want that disgusting disease, so I had him leave as soon as I could!"

I… Maybe I was hearing things? I was sure my ears were working fine. But it couldn't have been true. Shingle cared about me. What she was saying wasn't real. She was just saying that. But even though I knew that… even though _I knew_ , my hands were shaking, shaking _so hard_. I held my head so hard that I was squeezing it. It wasn't true. _It wasn't._

She suddenly sprinted out towards the clothes that she'd hung out to dry, and dug frantically, almost rabidly, at the earth beneath them. Doflamingo and his two subordinates stood and watched her. None of them made any moves to stop her, and Baby-5 and Buffalo's faces contorted into revulsion as the mad woman desperately attacked the muddy patch of dirt. I watched, just as stupefied, maybe even horrified, as my enemies below me.

"She's crazy- _dasuyan_!" Buffalo exclaimed, with Baby-5 nodding and hiding behind him in horrified agreement.

After a few moments, Shingle had found what she was looking for. Holding it up in her hand for the others to see was a very dirty white mass of fur with some discernible dark spots, the very image of my hat. I almost found myself believing that it was indeed my one and only hat, if it wasn't for the fact that it had been sitting beside me this whole time.

"Here, you see! I couldn't risk getting that disease, so I buried the hat here."

I gripped it close to my heart.

"I told you what I know! So leave me _alone_!" Shingle screamed hysterically as she choked back frightened tears.

"How absolutely pathetic." Doflamingo briskly walked up to Shingle, and without a moment's hesitation, he kicked her down as she cried out in pain. He continued and continued until she stopped crying out. Her body seemed to have gone limp.

He kicked her so she flipped face-up on the ground, panting and tears streaming down her face. Her arms were covered with bruises and scrapes. He bent down and leant close to her.

"Listen, little girl. In this world, the _strong_ determine the fate of the _weak_. You're still alive right now because I _chose_ not to kill you. Do you know why that is?

It's because for weaklings and cowards like you," he got up and spat on her, "existing in this world of ours is the worst kind of torture. Watching you grovel on the ground for your life and looking at the filthy shack you're living in are proof of just how pitiful you are.

Fufuffu! Just know that when we find out you've been lying about everything you said, we're going to come back and murder you in the most horrific way imaginable, so you should find a better place to hide if you intend on protecting your life.

Baby-5, Buffalo, let's go."

I kept myself out of sight as I listened to them leave. The whirring started and then grew steadily fainter until it was gone. But still, even after I was sure they had left, I continued not to turn back to the scene outside. I didn't know how long I stayed sitting there, petrified and shaking. Had it been minutes, an hour? It felt like an eternity as I listened to the deafening pulse in my ears.

Finally, I decided to look.

Shingle had gotten up, and was silently limping towards the house with her hands over her stomach and her eyes staring straight ahead.

I suddenly found the feeling in my legs again and rushed downstairs. Right as I reached the receiving room, she opened the door.

Her greeting was an exhausted sigh and a weak smile. "Hey there, kid."

She looked terrible. Her clothes were covered in moist mud, and footprints and red blotches decorated her white shirt over where her stomach was. Her hair was a complete mess, there were cuts on her cheek and forehead, and a drop of blood trickled down the corner of her mouth. Despite all this, she continued to smile- a tired, broken smile.

"Shingle… I-!"

I didn't want to look at her, at how badly she'd been beaten, but I couldn't tear my eyes away because what I was staring at, and what was staring back at me, was the ugly truth. She had almost died because of _me_ , because she was trying to _protect_ me.

And I realized it was going to continue that way. I knew it all along.

 _It's the Amber Lead Syndrome! If we're infected, it's the end!_

 _It's true! Look at those disgusting white spots!_

"H-Hey… What's wrong?"

"I… I can't-"

 _Don't you know that's a cursed child?!_

 _Are you a madman?! Get that demonic kid out of here!_

"Law, I didn't mean any of the things I said, you know that, right?"

 _You'll kill us all! We'll all get his dreadful disease!_

"… Law?"

 _Don't touch me!_

 _GO AWAY!_

She took a step forward, reaching her hand out towards me. "Hey… It's gonna be alright, kid. I'm okay."

 _There's no way I would've taken that brat in with me! That kid was infected with Amber Lead! I would die if I stayed any longer with him!_

It was true. She shouldn't have taken me in. She was going to die, just like Cora-san had. And it would be because of me.

 _I'm sorry, Shingle, Cora-san._

My legs moved on their own, and suddenly, I had turned and ran out of the back door and straight into the forest, the shout of my name following after me.

* * *

Notes:

Woof. Was that too much?

I named the town Shellburn, because Shelburne, Nova Scotia was where Edward Low, Law's real-life pirate namesake, raided several fishing vessels and rose his Jolly Roger, effectively becoming a notable and feared pirate captain from then on. He's got a really colorful history, so go and look him up if you have the time.

Questions, comments and reactions are well-welcomed! If the mood whiplash was too much, please feel free to tell me your disdain. And thanks a lot for taking the time for read this.

Apple Bloom: Yes, it's nice to think that since he encountered such kind people, it made him appreciate life and open his heart up to others. He turned out being quite smug as well haha.


	8. Chapter 7

Hi everyone! Sorry for the late update, I've just been working through some life things. Being an adult is hard. It would've been awesome, though, if I had uploaded this like 2 days ago, since October 6 was Law's birthday T_T. Belated Happy Birthday Law!

I do not own One Piece or any facet of what encompasses One Piece. I just own this fanfic, and any fictional information I decided to slap on the story. You'll see what I mean. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

7

I sprinted with everything I had, my eyes streamed with tears.

I could hear Shingle's voice, not too far off, calling my name desperately and asking me to stop. I didn't want to look back. I felt if I did, I'd find her gone, or dead, just like everyone else who I had known and loved.

Her voice was marked with the pain from her injuries, and her footfalls heavy with exhaustion. But I had to get away. That was the only way I could save her. If she'd only stop running after me, she could focus on taking care of herself and stop the bleeding!

Suddenly, a gust of wind rushed passed me and Shingle materialized in front of me in the blink of an eye, splinting her stomach with her small hands.

"You know, sometimes I forget I have devil fruit powers." She wasn't smiling. In fact, she looked absolutely melancholy as she looked at me.

"Shingle…." Seeing her there, blocking my way, looking defeated and vulnerable, I was suddenly filled with rage. Why couldn't she get the idea?!

"Don't chase me anymore! It'll only get worse if you keep coming after me!"

"Law, please, if we just talk it out- LOOK OUT!"

Before I knew it, she pushed me back and I fell to the ground, cold snow breaking my fall. I saw a glint of gray flash at Shingle's heel, and she let out a painful cry as she collapsed as well.

"Shingle!"

The silver-backed viper drew itself back into a coil, its eyes set on the collapsed woman, preparing to attack.

Instinct took over, and I was about to jump it, but I didn't get the chance.

" _Flamen_."

A soft breeze picked the snake up and it drifted away, as though it was being carried on an invisible cloud. The snake barred its fangs at us menacingly one last time before disappearing into the thicket.

"Another, haha… another example of me forgetting I have powers." She winced. "Oh God, that stings so bad."

She was down on the ground, clutching at her ankle, the hem of her pants getting stained with fresh blood. "L-Law, kiddo, I hate to ask for help but….."

At that moment, it felt like the world was collapsing in on itself. If that snake's venom was lethal, then-!

That's it! I ate the Op Op fruit, so maybe I could try extracting the venom out of her? I didn't know _how_ I would do it, but I had to try! I had to help her!

Quickly, I knelt down next to her, praying that I wasn't too late and drew the pant-sleeve up to find a long, deep cut.

"I wasn't bitten, kid." She grinned. "A branch cut me, though. Hahah- yeouch!"

I couldn't help but smack her on the head.

"What's wrong with you?! I thought you were going to die from snake venom!"

"C'mon now, I'm already- ohhh shhhh- I'm already injured! _Please_ don't hurt me. And I don't want to be _too_ demanding, y'know- oh CRAP that hurts- but I don't suppose you could help me out here?" She gave me a terribly pained grimace and I helped her lean up against a tree.

Still fuming, I watched as she ripped off some strips of cloth from the bottom of her long shirt, and I snatched it from her to wrap up her ankle and her stomach.

"Ack, nice field dressing, kiddo." She heaved and pat me on the head. I thought of swatting her hand away, but decided not to. Then she closed her eyes, and I feared the worst.

"Don't you dare die on me, Shingle!"

"Heheh, you don't have to shout." She cracked one eye open to look at me and snickered softly. "I'm just –ugh- resting, okay? Just, ah, let me catch my breath and I can waddle back to the shack and lie in bed for a few days. But I'm not gonna die so easily…. I think." She chuckled a bit to herself, and after a while it died down into half-hearted huffs. She shifted her weight a bit to get comfortable, then kept herself from moving as much as possible.

She looked down at herself. "Aww man, what a mess, huh?" She laughed, but it sounded more like she was sobbing. I felt like sobbing, too. As much as she infuriated and confused me, she protected me, and I couldn't do the same for her.

"You… must've had a nasty shock with that whole performance I gave back there." She started uncomfortably, not looking at me.

I didn't answer her. I didn't want her to move, or talk. The strain of everything was probably more painful than she was letting on.

"I'm really sorry, Law. And thanks for staying put back there. You would've been in trouble if you had tried to help me."

I looked at her. I was half-angry, half-incredulous. "Why would you say that? You wouldn't have gotten hurt if I wasn't here."

"Ah, so I'm guessing you were thinking that if you ran away, you could protect me from getting hurt any more than I already am, huh Law?"

I looked at her wide-eyed. "How did you-?"

She smiled down at the ground wistfully. "Ah well, I've heard that one before..."

"Anyway, I'm a bit too deep into this to back out now, don't you think?"

"That's stupid! You could just leave me behind and go hide from Doflamingo!"

"Pssh, as if. I can't leave a little kid like you by yourself, y'know. I stick by what I said when we met. I'm going to help you. It's what I want to do."

Who did she _think_ she was? Despite all her big talk, she got heavily injured today by none other thatn Doflamingo himself, and I couldn't do a thing to help. She couldn't just tell me that she would stick by me and everything would be alright. The longer I looked at her, and the more I stared at this strange, kind lady who risked her life to save me, the more I remembered Cora-san, and all he did for me. I couldn't lose someone else. I _refused_ to.

"I can fend for myself! I don't need you." I shouted, getting up, my fists balled in anger.

She stopped smiling and looked me from head to toe, sighing out of her nostrils.

"You really think you can go on by yourself? Take on Doflamingo?"

"You don't know a damned thing about me, so don't tell me what I can or can't do!" I retorted.

"What do you think would have happened to you if I hadn't been there to cover for you?"

"You wouldn't have gotten hurt! And this is my problem!"

"Listen here, Law!" Her eyes flashed with an anger I'd never seen from her. "I'm going to keep you safe until you get better if it's the last thing I do, so just shut it! I lost Rosi, I'm not gonna lose you, too!"

Rosi…?

Rosi.

She… she _didn't_ mean…!

She searched my face sadly as I stared back at her, speechless.

"I think it's safe to say that if we want to get through this together, we're gonna have to trust each other completely. No more secrets ….

I guess I'll start. From the beginning."

…..

The thick, snow-blanketed forest seemed to quiet down as I folded my legs underneath me and took a seat right in front of Shingle, both eager and anxious over what she had to say.

"Well, I'm gonna tell you the long and uninteresting story of my life, kid. As an intro, my name is Claviger Shingle, 19 years old, born on the 4th of September..."

She exhaled slowly, nervously, then took a sharp breath.

"Umm, first of all, my real name isn't actually Claviger Shingle." She said in a flurry.

I raised both my eyebrows.

"Hehe, yeah, really sorry about that. I haven't gone by my real name in a really long time, and I kind of hate it, but just so you know, its Kadami Kala."

Someone else with a secret name, just like me.

"….Why are you hiding your real name?"

She sighed, hesitant of what she was about to say. "Well…. Because I used to be the daughter of a wealthy family. Well, _used_ to be. Both the wealthy and the daughter parts, anyway."

"My mother, Kadami Sahala was descended from a line of nobles, but after dear old mom lost her spot as ruler of the Coccane Kingdom to her eldest brother, she married a rich businessman, who became Kadami Peesy, so she could continue her lavish lifestyle. My father got the status and my mother got the money. It was a match made in heaven.

Sadly, things didn't work out the way she wanted. My father was a goods supplier to the World Government, but unfortunately a major shipment sank and he fell out of favor. Eventually, my father's business failed and the fortune was gone. Mother and father decided that to get their way of living back, their _kids_ , namely me and my other four siblings, would have to marry into rich households.

I was the eldest, and they already made plans for me to marry the son of the wealthiest doctor of a huge hospital, so they made me study medicine so I could impress them and infiltrate the family."

She stopped, suddenly looked at me and blushed profusely.

"Oh my gosh! I'm really sorry for dumping all that on you!" She smacked her face in embarrassment and then yelled loudly when she hit the wounds on her cheek.

"Be more careful, you idiot!" I yelled at her.

"Wahh, I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize to me, you only hurt yourself!"

I huffed as she started tearing up, biting her lip. "So that means you weren't like the rest of them? You didn't want to be rich?"

"Hahah… well, that's not _exactly_ it. I wanted to be like my uncle- Claviger Panza. He was the captain of the High Mark Pirates" She smiled fondly at the name.

"He was my father's brother and started sailing a while after I was born. He visited us occasionally, but my parents hated seeing him since they didn't want to be associated with a pirate. He kept coming back though because I was his favorite niece, I think. I wanted to be a writer who wrote about people's amazing adventures and grand battles, so I loved hearing his stories.

Sometimes he even helped us when we needed money. Isn't that ironic? A pirate helping out a noble. Definitely didn't help with my parents' egos" She snickered at the thought.

"You must be wondering at this point, 'That's a pretty good gig. All you have to do is marry someone rich and you're set for life, right?'" When she put it that way…. "Well, I'd agree with you there. My siblings shared my concerns, but what could we do? They decided they wanted to live the good life, which is fine." She shrugged. "I can't really blame them for that. I mean, who doesn't wanna be rich, right? I guess I was always the crazy one in the family."

"Well… my folks were pretty delusional. If I even questioned why we had to keep lying about our money, I got a stern beating. We kept up the façade of being wealthy in our city so that we could meet more rich people with kids who would marry us. I remember the times we smuggled home food in our bags and dresses whenever we were invited to some banquet, or else go hungry for days. They insisted on keeping up with appearances, and their behavior was despicable. They denied our situation to the point that they ridiculed and even shot at peasants and commoners who asked for money on the street, and it was funny to think that we probably had as much as they did." Her brow deepened and there was contempt in her eyes.

"Anyway, I hated living in a lie, pretending that we were something we weren't. I didn't want everything I did dictated to me or to spend the rest of my life trapped as the wife of some snooty rich guy. And I definitely didn't want to end up as some selfish, cruel socialite." She ran her hands over the snow on the ground absentmindedly.

"I begged my uncle time after time to take me with him, but he always told me it would be better for me if I lived in a comfortable situation, though sometimes I think he only said that to convince himself more than me."

"Finally, when I turned 15, I snuck onto his ship! He didn't like it, of course, and he was gonna bring me back home, but I basically begged until his ears bled and he kept me onboard. I earned my keep by doing chores around the ship and after a while I became an official member of the crew. They even taught me how to fight. I took on my uncle's last name, and took my name from the character of one of my favorite novels.

Mm, Uncle Panza was a kind man, so he never robbed civilians. He only engaged other pirate crews, and he was pretty strong, if I do say so myself. It was amazing."

I recalled what she had told me in the cave the night we met. "But you said back then that you separated from them. Are you not a part of the crew anymore?"

"Ah yes, well, a few years after I joined, we managed to get our hands on a rare treasure, the Gust Gust fruit, in a small chest, from another group of pirates. There was this big storm that nearly destroyed our ship. The chest fell off, and like an idiot I went after it, fell into the raging ocean and blacked out.

When I came to, I got washed up on a beach I didn't recognize, with no sign of my crew anywhere. I searched for days. And guess who ended up eating the fruit in a fit of starvation?" She wiggled her eyebrows a bit and started pointing at herself.

"Humor me." I answered dryly.

"Hey, I didn't really _want_ to eat it. It was worth a lot!" She shrugged.

"Didn't you just say that you didn't care about becoming rich?"

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously you weren't paying attention, kid. I want to live life on my own terms, but making some berries in the process isn't completely out of the question."

"Anyway, to continue with the story. I was about to meet my maker when I was saved by a stubborn, cranky old man named Domino, who took me in and took care of me for the year that I stayed on the island."

"Wait, why did you stay so long with that old man on that island? Didn't you want to find your uncle and the crew?"

"Oh trust me that was the _first thing_ I wanted to do. But it turned out that the island was crawling with dangerous animals on one side and deadly whirlpools on the other. Master Domino completely refused to help and told me"- she quickly took on the visage and stern, deep voice of an old man-"'I refuse to fight for such a useless, pathetic excuse of a pirate. If you want to get off this island, train hard and beat those animals yourself!'"

"Well, it turned out that Master Domino was a martial artist of the Rhythm Style. The old man must've been lonely and wanted a successor to the style, so he taught me, and on top of training, I slowly got the hang of using my devil fruit powers."

"After a year, I mastered being able to use my wind powers to fly across the ocean, because, as it turned out, Master had been stuck on that island for years without a boat and just kind of settled there. I asked if he wanted to leave with me, but he stubbornly refused and I left. I go and visit him sometimes, though.

And so I searched for my crew, but I had no leads. Honestly, I already considered that they might have all died in that storm, or they gave up searching for me and moved on to somewhere else like the Grand Line. But I couldn't give up until I found out what happened to them!

And that's when… I decided to work in Spider Miles for the Donquixote crew. B-But don't worry! It's not like I worked as a mercenary or assassin or anything. No… I was just a maid at one of the hideouts." She grew quiet, pensive.

I was relieved that Shingle hadn't been a close member of Doflamingo's crew. But, I couldn't help but grit my teeth as I remembered the man, seeing him again before my eyes just moments ago, and how he demonstrated his cruelty, his sadism.

She looked at me intently, watching my reaction. "You know… Earlier, in front of the house, it really was terrifying. I wasn't acting my fear." She said this quietly, looked at her hands, covered in wounds; they were shaking a bit. "After all, _he_ was the one who killed Rosi, right?"

I looked down. "Yes… Cora-san was killed by Doflamingo."

"What a terrible man…." Shingle fell very silent, squeezing her hands tightly.

"…He died while protecting me."

I expected her to yell at me or even hit me.

"That sounds just like him…. Cora-san, huh? Cute, I'm sure he liked that name a lot." She mused with a sad smile.

"Did… Did you meet Cora-san when you were working for the Donquixote family?"

"Meet him? Hehe, he nearly put me in the hospital first time I saw him." She started grinning. "Anyway, I joined because I heard the Donquixote Pirates were claiming territory everywhere in North Blue and were becoming notorious for forcing weaker crews to join them. Getting info about my crew by working for them seemed like the best option to me, and I didn't tell anyone about my devil fruit powers since I didn't want unnecessary trouble."

"I started asking around with the other servants, but they didn't seem to know anything about other pirates. Days went by and I had nothing to go on... Rosinante…. He and those two kids from earlier came to that building to prep for some mission. Rosi was staying at one of the rooms I was asked to clean, and requested for some refreshments on paper. When I came back, there was a fire on his feathery cape thing and I didn't know what to do so I decided to splash an entire pitcher of tea on him! And _then_ after I kept apologizing and asking him if he was okay, he glared at me and jabbed me in the stomach. Good thing I had all that training, else I would've been shot into the sky. Still hurt, though." She smoothened the make-shift bandages on her stomach, biting her lip.

"It was probably the most stupid thing I could do, but I decided to confront him when everyone was asleep and ask him if he knew about my crew, since I heard he was a high-ranking officer in Doflamingo's crew. And I thought, 'Hey, if things don't go well, I could just fight back or use my wind powers to escape.'"

She was right, that was probably the most stupid thing she could've done. Talk to someone who could have killed her? It was inspired.

"Hey, I see that look you're giving me! Anyway…"

"I told him my story and that I just wanted to know where my crew was. I knew he was mute, so I expected him not to respond to what I was saying. Heck, even if he _wasn't_ mute, a heartless pirate like him would have probably just laughed at my request, at the least. What I _didn't_ expect from him, of course, was that he would actually _talk_ to me!"

Her tone shifted, and she spoke more quietly as she fidgeted with the small white ring in her hands.

"He told me he _did_ know, and I was overjoyed! But he said if I wanted to be reunited with my crew again, I needed to follow two conditions: First, I would have to follow everything he said, and second, that I would stop working for the Donquixote crew."

"So we sailed together for a while, ended up on Brattoria Island, and I was reunited with my uncle. I found out that my uncle felt so guilty over losing me that they let themselves get taken in by Doflamingo and were made to fight in his battles against other black market kingpins for dominance. They decided that they would escape his influence and leave for the Grand Line."

She sighed deeply.

"And… you didn't go with them."

"Well, I wanted to, of course, but they refused to bring me. Uncle said he couldn't bear losing me again, and after I insisted, everything went black. When I came to, Rosi was with me, and gave me the letter my uncle left behind for me. Frankly, I felt betrayed that they would go so far as to knock me out, and I refused to read it. But when I finally did, he told me that he was proud of me, but he would sleep better knowing I was safe in North Blue. _But_ , if I _really_ wanted to follow after them, they would be waiting for me there in the Grand Line."

"I thought long and hard about what my uncle wrote. After I left that awful place, Rosi took me to meet the one and only Sengoku! Can you believe it? Rosi told me that I was young, and that I had a lot to live for and I shouldn't be a pirate. After they found out about my devil fruit power, they thought I'd be useful for some covert missions for the government.

I told them, of course, that I wasn't too keen on becoming a marine for a bunch of reasons. But when Sengoku told me he'd arrest me for being a pirate if I refused, I had to give in. Besides, if I could become stronger and help innocent people in the process, I guess that was a win-win for me."

She stared down at her squeezed hands and the ring that they held, and there was a very long pause.

"Life has… a strange way of turning out. Sometimes you meet people in the most unexpected ways…. I-"

Suddenly she began to weep, tears streaming down her face relentlessly.

I rushed to her side. "Shingle what's wrong?"

"I'm really… really happy I found you in time, Law. He told me… he told me he might die. I didn't think he actually would…. T-That bastard…. He was so clumsy…."

I watched her, my eyes widening and my heart wrenching as she cried. "Did… did you know who I was when you met me? Did you already know… what happened?"

"Well, yes and no," she wiped her wet face carefully with her shirt and sniffing incessantly. "Rosi made sure to update me on what he was doing, but this time all he told me was that he was helping a kid find a cure to his disease. I know he wasn't telling me anything because he didn't want me involved….

One day, I had enough and asked Sengoku where he went, only to find out about the Op Op fruit trade. Sengoku told me that Rosi promised he would stay away from the scene, but I knew that fool was gonna do something stupid… So I came to this island.

Sengoku told me what happened after I found you collapsed in the snow…. It was a good thing you started looking better when I put you by the fire and you got to sleep soundly for a few hours…."

She looked me straight in the eyes, her own still red and puffy. "You've been through so much, Law. I can't imagine what it must have been like."

I was speechless. I marveled and mourned at how we had both lost someone so precious to us that night and I wanted to ask her so many things.

Then something dawned on me. "So you stayed with me and protected me this whole time… To fulfill Cora-san's last wishes…?"

A hurricane of emotions stormed inside of me. Gratitude? Betrayal? I was amazed that even after his death, Cora-san's protection over me hadn't faded. But, if she had known, why hadn't Shingle told me who she was from the start? If she had only taken care of me this whole time because I happened to be the kid that Cora-san was taking care of, then what did she really think of me? Was she only here out of obligation and nothing more?

But before I could do or say anything else, before I could express any more doubts, Shingle embraced me tightly. She didn't say a word as we sat there, and I didn't try to stop her or have her let go of me.

It had been too long since I had been held like that. I thought of father, mother, and Lami, my little sister- my family- probably the last people who had ever shown me any physical affection…. They've been gone for a long time. So long that I almost don't remember how their voices sounded, or what they smelled like. During the time I was with Doflamingo and his crew, I stamped out all the things about them so I wouldn't remember the pain of losing them. They were dead, and all the people I knew were dead and it killed me inside. I was hollow and the world should've paid for it. I was trembling. I suddenly felt like everything I'd bottled up inside me, crushed in the deepest parts of my heart, was about to explode.

She slowly let go of me, held my shoulders at arms-length, and looked me in the eyes.

"I… I know you think that I'm here to finish what Rosi started, and I won't deny that, in a way, I am. But I want you to know that you are an _amazing_ kid, that _I_ think _you_ are an amazing kid, and that I am truly, utterly, incredibly happy to be taking care of you. No matter what happens, you should keep living on for yourself, and do things that make you happy. So please, let me keep taking care of you, at least until you get better, and then you can decide what you want to do after that, whether you want to part ways or whatever. Just… right now, I'm here for you, okay?"

I was struck speechless. In an instant, the explosion that I felt was coming receded back inside me and the tempest in the pit of my stomach calmed down.

For a long, long time, I had convinced myself that having bonds with people would just end in death and tragedy. And, thinking back, I haven't been wrong so far. Even Cora-san was gone….

But….

I… didn't have the strength to push her away. I was happy that she had found me.

"…Okay."

She beamed at me. "Thank you."

"And Shingle…"

"Mm?"

"…. Thank you for everything."

She rubbed her nose cheekily. "Aww, you're welcome."

"By the way, if you don't feel ready to say anything about your past, then that's fine. I don't want to force you, alright?" She motioned to get up, but I stopped her.

She looked at me, puzzled, but saw that the conviction in my eyes told her to stay put and listen to what I had to say, so she carefully sat back down on the snow-covered forest floor and gave me her undivided attention.

I drew a deep breath.

"… My name is Trafalgar D Water Law. I'm 13 years old, born on October 6. I came from a country called Flevance. And that's where… I lost everything."

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Note:

Everyone, I can't thank you all enough for reviewing and putting this story up on your faves list. Really guys, I'm always doing the smile thing because of you. It fills me with _determination_!

By the way, this chapter was more or less a huge infodump about Shingle, her origins and her connection with Mingo and, subsequently, Rosi. So… Ah…. I hope it was okay…. *sweats* Feel free to ask further about her background and I'll answer them, maybe by review or PM if you prefer.

To all the comments about Shingle being super motherly to Law: Yes! She's super motherly, especially since she's been the "homemaker" of her crew for a while, but I do think I'd classify their relationship as more of a younger brother-older sister thing, since the age gap is too small for her to be considered his mother figure. (Though I also realized I only revealed her age now huhu) But please let me know what you think as well!

The snake featured at the end is based off a Vipera berus (aka the common European adder), a species that is often awake but inactive during winter, and that usually only attacks when provoked. Its venom isn't as deadly as other snakes, but it could still kill a small child and leave an adult incapacitated for a year or so.

Stay posted for the next one!


	9. Chapter 8

Hiya guys! Thanks so much for waiting and sorry it took so long!

I do not own One Piece (though that would be awesome; of course I wouldn't change anything, except for giving side-characters backstories). This is simply a fan-made extension of the story that Eiichiro Oda created. Please enjoy!

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8

Shingle listened intently as I told her my story- where I came from, what had happened to me, and eventually how I ended up meeting Cora-san. She stayed silent during most of my tale, an ever-present look of horror and sorrow on her face, giving the occasional nod or hum of a response to assure me she was still paying rapt attention.

It felt… strange to be talking about my past. After all, nobody had bothered to ask about what happened to me except for the Donquixote crew. I've been spending years covering up despair with blood thirst. But as I went on, everything started to pour out. I reopened my past worries and anxieties as my country slowly fell to civil war and ruin. I described the aches and pains that came with living through my condition, and told her it was something everyone in my country had to go through. I narrated the abusive training I received under Doflamingo's tutelage, and the things I had seen and done as a full-fledged member of his crew. She sat there and listened as I narrated the things I had gone through, taking in everything I was saying. There was no hatred or disgust in her eyes, but she pitied me, looking at me as though I were a priceless glass statue, ready at any moment to fall to pieces.

"Oh Law… I can't believe all that's happened to you. It's even worse than I could have ever imagined..."

I just looked down at the snow. It's true. My life was a tragedy, but in a sick way, I was almost used to it.

Finally, I got to the part where Cora-san and I had arrived on Minion Island.

"When we landed on this island, I could barely stand on my own, so Cora-san left me at the ghost town at the foot of the mountain while he went off to steal the Op Op fruit by himself."

Her face told me that she thought that was completely reckless. I agreed.

"He managed to come back with the fruit, and he was so eager for me to be cured that he even force-fed it to me. But after that, he collapsed and I found his body was actually covered in bullet holes. I tried to heal him with my powers, but I didn't know how to use them yet, and he told me devil fruit powers weren't magic. But he looked so pleased to have saved me…"

A shadow cast over Shingle's face. "Rosi was very good at saving people. He put everything he had into that. But he was never any good at taking care of himself."

"Yeah… He told me that he would be fine, and that there were more important things to take care of. He gave me a special letter to give to the marines, and after a while…. I found a marine who was trailing behind the others…."

"…Law?"

I realized I had stopped talking, and that my nails were digging into my palms.

"Ah… Sorry…. The person I had ran into… his name was Vergo. He was actually a member of Doflamingo's crew working undercover as a marine.… After I gave him the letter, I begged him to come and help Cora-san, but after he found out who we were and that we were going to betray the crew, he beat both of us to near death and called Doflamingo on a den den mushi to tell us what happened. While Vergo was distracted, Cora-san managed to take me and run."

"Cora-san thought up a plan and hid me in a treasure chest, and said that pirates couldn't resist treasure, so I could be taken away from the island safely if I just waited inside. He used his power on me so that I couldn't make any noise, and told me that if I got the chance I should quietly run away. I was worried about him, like what if Doflamingo decided to kill him for betraying him, but he told me that everything would turn out okay. He said that since they were brothers, Doflamingo wouldn't think of killing him."

"But Cora-san was wrong. Doflamingo counted him as a traitor and killed him. I'm sure he knew that would happen, that's why he didn't tell me. But while he was talking to Doflamingo, Cora-san apologized to me for lying and that he really was a marine, and he told Doflamingo that I would never work for him again, that I was free..!"

"Before he closed the lid of the treasure chest, he told me he loved me. I… I only managed to escape thanks to Cora-san."

I started to weep silently, the tears flowing down like icicles down my cheeks and dropping unhindered to on to the snow.

Shingle was about to come over and comfort me, but I wiped my face with my arm quickly and looked at her with conviction.

"I'm okay…. I've… I've already cried enough since he died that night."

Worry was etched deep in her eyes as she watched me. I realized that aside from Cora-san, this short, black-haired lady was the only other person who had looked at me like that. Most people looked at me with fear and revulsion. Diamante, Trebol and the other high-ranking officers saw me as a plaything that they could abuse during training. And Doflamingo…. He saw me as the successor of the hatred and chaos he wanted to unleash onto the world.

"Shingle, I want to treasure the life that Cora-san gave me, and make sure that he didn't die in vain. He told me once that Doflamingo hated Ds because he thought they were a threat….

I want to avenge his death and kill Doflamingo!"

Her eyes widened with my declaration, but it wasn't the reaction I expected. "I… Wow… That's really… Wow." Conflicting emotions were flashing across her face as she stared at me.

I was confused, and it was steadily being replaced with disbelief. I thought Shingle would completely agree with what I was saying and that she would be eager to help me take down Doflamingo.

"What's wrong?" I said, a little more angrily than I would have wanted. "Don't you want to avenge Cora-san?"

"Of course I do, Law. I really do! But right now, we just… don't have the power to do that…"

I was about to burst out at her, tell her that it would be the only way we could honor his death, but she interrupted me.

"Law, I understand how you feel, probably more than anyone else." The resolve of steel shone in her dark eyes, affirming her feelings. "You and I have both been saved by Rosi, and we both found ourselves as better people after meeting him. We can share his legacy with each other. But I'm sure that he would've wanted you to do your best to live for yourself and avoid bumping heads with Doflamingo. If anything, we should focus on staying out of sight and making you better before we even think of taking down that lunatic. He's gonna try every trick in the book to find you and make you his lackey again. We have to prepare for that, and do our best to make sure that doesn't happen. Do you understand?"

I sighed… I did understand. As much as I wanted to get revenge for Cora-san, anything I would try to do now would get me killed. As distasteful as it sounded, I learned one of life's most important lessons under Doflamingo while pouring over dozens of books on battle tactics and strategy: You had to wait for the right opportunity to deal the most amount of damage on your enemy. Even if it took me months, years, I had the theoretical knowledge to take him down, or, at least, I would use every means at my disposal to get that information and make sure he experienced his own personal hell on earth.

I'd almost be grateful for him giving me the means for his end if it wasn't for the fact that he killed the only man who cared about me.

"Yes, I understand," I finally said. She stared me long and hard in the eyes to see if I wasn't just trying to put her at ease, but she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry about getting mad Shingle, I just… Cora-san didn't deserve to die."

"He definitely didn't. But you don't, either. Doflamingo needs to pay the price for all he's done, but it will come with time. I'm glad you can see that. It makes you one step farther away from being like Doflamingo."

She came up to me and gave me another hug, quick and tight, assuring me that things would be okay. I hoped they would be.

When we both looked around us, it was nearing evening, and we decided to head back. Shingle walked gingerly in front of me as we maneuvered through the trees. She seemed to be doing much better after she got to sit and rest, but I knew she was still feeling the pain from her wounds, even though she did her best to hide it.

"Uhh… By the way Law, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you anything earlier… I wasn't 100% convinced that you were the kid Rosi had been taking care of, and I didn't want to freak you out. I was worried that trying to open up the topic would make you run away and think I was trying to capture you." She chuckled worriedly while looking back at me. "But… I guess you were suspicious regardless."

I looked down. "Yeah… I'm sorry about that. I didn't want to take any chances."

"Hey now, it's cool. It was the smart thing to do! Surviving is no laughing matter when Doflamingo is the one coming after you, after all."

I thought briefly of the scene that played out earlier that afternoon. "Shingle… where did you get a copy of my hat?"

"Ah yeah…" She shifted nervously as we ducked under low branches. "I made that hat myself, actually. Or, more accurately, I got a hat that has the same shape, sewed on the furry bits, splashed on some paint and viola! Hehe, I've only got a few skills to be proud of, but they're handy when I need them. And I've been making it at the library so you wouldn't see…."

"But… _why_ did you make it? And why didn't you tell me about it?"

"You really wanna know?" She looked embarrassed. "To tell you the truth, I made it because, as far as personal effects go, hats are a dead giveaway. If anyone was looking for you, the first thing they would be looking for is your hat. Sooo… I decided I could use it to convince anyone looking for you that you were long gone."

"You made a copy of my hat… just for that?"

"Yeah well, I'm sure you've noticed my flair for the dramatic." She winked. "And, to be honest, I didn't tell you because… I was scared. I didn't know how you would feel about me making a replica of your hat. I'm sure it's important to you, since you never let go of the thing, and maybe you were, I don't know, gonna start thinking that I was gonna to sell you out to someone and use the hat as proof?"

That was really specific, and not exactly far from the truth. And I thought _I_ had been paranoid.

When we reached the shack, the sun was starting to set down on Shellburn Town in the distance. Shingle insisted that we watch the last few rays go out from the safety of the attic, and I obliged her. I didn't think of myself as a sentimental person, so I stayed silent as Shingle kept her eyes on the changing hues of the sky, blinding oranges evaporating into deep, dark pinks and purples as the sun disappeared behind rows of houses.

"You know Law, I don't really know how much time I've bought us. I don't know if Doflamingo believed me, or if he'll be back the next thing tomorrow… Even so, I don't think running away would be the right idea. I have to stick with the story I gave him and stay here to remove any suspicion. "

She was smiling, but I could tell she was just trying to put up a brave front.

I sighed and crossed my arms. "You should stop trying to put everything on yourself. I can see you're worried, but we can make plans together."

She looked at me quickly and water brimming in her eyes. "For... for real?" Then she wrapped me in a big embrace. "What a brave kid! So considerate! You're making me tear up."

"Hey, Shingle, you're gonna-!"

"YEOUCH!"

"You moron! You reopened your wounds!"

"Wahhh! Nooo!"

….

Shingle spent the entirety of the next day resting in a chair. A bed would've been preferable, but she stubbornly refused to "make me do all the work." After living with her for a week, I realized that she was a busybody because she couldn't stand being still for more than a few minutes at a time, unless she was reading or writing, the latter of which she decided to do to keep her mind off moving around too much. She took up my space next to the attic window, having decided the previous day that she would take a more "active role" in her "mentorship," whatever that meant.

If she was going to help me, then it was about time I got serious with my practicing. I took a piece of wood from the poorly-boarded window and placed it in front of me as I sat on the floor.

" _ROOM."_

The blue sphere appeared around the wood.

"Ohhh! Cool!" Shingle marveled. I felt my cheeks tinge a bit.

I pointed at the stationary piece of wood.

" _Takt._ " I lifted my finger and the wood began floating to the middle of the sphere. Then, I drew a circle in the air so that it started spinning inside. The young woman clapped at the spectacle while it slowed to a stop.

"You've really gotten the hang of it, haven't you? It's quite impressive."

I kept my eyes on the wood, my cheeks flushing. "It's nothing, really."

"No really! This devil fruit seems really complicated but you can already make the sphere appear like it's nothing."

I kept silent. I… wasn't at all used to being complimented. And anyway, I had concentrate. I decided that the sooner I got better, the sooner Shingle and I could take down Doflamingo. Aside from that, I was running out of time. Even though the foul, moldy bread alleviated my symptoms, they would come back in full force when its effects wore off after a few hours. I had already calculated my lifespan countless times before, and I was sure that before two weeks passed by, my time was up. It was time to see what my devil fruit powers could really do when it came to healing.

I opened the toolbox next to me and took out the half-rusted handsaw, setting my sights on the floating piece of wood.

"H-Hey now, be careful with that thing, alright kid?"

"I will, don't worry."

She bit her upper lip as she watched me cut the wood in half. There were now two separate pieces floating around inside the dome. I motioned with my hands for the two pieces to come together and reattach. But, no matter how long I pushed them together, they didn't come back to their original form.

"Hey, uh, what're you trying to do, kid?"

"I wanted to see if I could cut and put things back together with my power. I thought if I could open up my body safely, I could extract the amber lead..."

I had read the passage on my devil fruit over and over. _The fruit has the unique ability to dismember living creatures without causing bleeding or death, as long as these remain within the sphere's confines. Removing and reattaching body parts presents no bodily harm to those within._

Living creatures.

I rushed downstairs, and when I came back, Shingle gasped at the sight of her short sword and bundles of bandages in my hands.

"Whoa, what do you think you're going to do with that?!"

"Shingle, you've read the book too, haven't you? What if it only works on living things?"

Of course, I wasn't entirely sure this would work. And even if it did, it might hurt just as much as actually cutting myself would….

"That is way too risky! What if you actually injure yourself? I don't know what I'd do if you-"

"I still have to try! I can't get anywhere with what I know right now. And if I never try to use my powers on myself, it will be the same as if I'd never gotten them at all. Please let me do this Shingle! You have to trust me." I pleaded with her.

She fell silent, looking at me miserably. I knew that she saw my point.

Finally, she sighed in defeat. "Remember what I said about being brave? You're reckless, just like Rosi was. It rubbed off on you." She crossed her arms. "Fine. I _trust_ you, okay?"

I placed the bandages in her lap as she watched me. I took a deep breath.

Here goes.

I expanded the sphere to a space where my whole body could fit inside, and it took more energy than I was used to. I sat down with my legs straightened out in front of me. Then, I grasped Shingle's sword in both hands, gripping tight at the hilt and sheath so they wouldn't shake.

I unsheathed it, and the light bounced off the sharp edge like a warning sign.

Then, I locked my eyes down at my target as I hastily swung the sword down, afraid that I might lose my conviction, and chopped off my right foot at the ankle.

I had felt the cold, sharp steel go through my flesh… But I didn't feel any pain. My companion made a noise like a loud whimper, before exclaiming, "Law, look!"

I opened my eyes, my mouth hanging open. My foot was a few centimeters away from the end of my stump leg, but there was no blood at all. I marveled at the sight, like I was looking at a plastic model of human body, only the model was _me_.

I was afraid to move. What if something went wrong? I looked at Shingle and she was just as dumbfounded as I was, but she could sense the question I couldn't ask and nodded hesitantly.

I moved my leg away from my dismembered foot, but it stayed the same- no blood, no pain. I stared at the stumped end of my leg. It was almost ghostly, I could still feel my foot even though it wasn't a part of my body any-

"AHHH!"

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. "What happened?!"

Shingle pointed, frantic and terrified, at my foot. "It can move!"

And it was. The toes of my feet were wriggling, just as I had felt them. I stopped thinking about moving them, and they did. You… You could still move the body part after it's been cut off…

"Cora-san said… devil fruit powers weren't magic…" I said, dumbstruck.

"Well, he could have fooled me." Shingle exclaimed, looking down incredulously at my moving foot. "I have _no_ idea how science could explain these powers."

"I agree… Devil fruit powers are the most magical thing I've ever seen." I carefully picked up my bare foot, patched all over in snowy-white, and looked inside at the end where it had been severed. Inside were the bright reds and pinks of muscles and blood vessels. I could move the foot as though it were still attached, but otherwise, it was as if all my foot's biological functions were at a standstill.

"I've seen some crazy things, kid, but this really takes the cake!" She waved her hands at my now stationary foot and leaned forward to get a better look. "It looks like whatever part you sever off is still connected to the main body. You could perform all sorts of surgeries without any risk!"

"That's true… But, there's still one thing I need to do…"

I brought my leg and foot together, lined them up, and I attempted to sort of just push them back together. Shingle watched with bated breath. I let go.

I almost couldn't believe it, but my foot had been reattached perfectly! There were no scars or any other signs that it had even been cut off in the first place. I stood up, tapped and kicked, but there was nothing wrong with it. I started smiling ear to ear.

Shingle whooped and hollered. "Amazing, Law! Once we figure out how you can extract that amber lead, you'll be cured!"

I nodded, hopeful. "Yeah, I can feel it!"

I cancelled out my sphere, but just as I was about to walk, I was falling forward and managed to catch myself before I hit the ground, like there was a sudden weight on my body.

"Law, what happened? Did something go wrong?"

I checked myself. My leg was completely fine. Rather, I knew it wasn't my leg that was the matter. It was me.

"The bread mold is hiding it but… I think my body will give in to the amber lead before two weeks are over, plus using my devil fruit powers too much saps my energy… I need to make sure I can cure myself within a week's time. Otherwise…."

She gulped, hands folded over the small notebook she had been writing in. "You're done for."

I nodded.

….

A week passed. Winter had slowly and steadily began to thaw all around us, and the sharp icy winds were replaced with warm, spring gusts blowing through the countryside. The change of the seasons brought with it a fresh breath of hope.

It was time. I was finally ready to "operate" on myself.

We decided to perform it in the attic. Shingle was by my side, ready to assist me with the things we had prepared. Since she had been recovering from her wounds, she helped me figure out how to go about what we were about to do. After discussing it, we thought it would be best to use sterile tools to prevent any infections. We couldn't take our chances, especially since this was going to be a long and thorough procedure.

Shingle had been on edge leading up to that day. In fact, I felt like she was more nervous than I was.

"Well, this is it, isn't it?" She finally said as she awkwardly stepped away from the knives she had been preparing. She shifted uncomfortably as she stared at me.

"You sure you're ready?"

"No." Her face faulted as she stared at me incredulously. "But I don't think I'll ever be completely ready." I continued, staring at the hands that I had been practicing fervently with, the hands that were now almost completely covered in the snow-white spots. "And if I don't try now, I may never get the chance to cure myself."

"Heh, I like that spunk of yours, kid!" She grinned as she pat my shoulder, but after a while her smile faded into a pensive, downcast look.

"What's the matter, Shingle?"

"It's just that I can't really do much for you at such a crucial moment other than just putting my trust in you." She shrugged heavily.

"But, whatever happens, I'll be here anyway, and don't forget that," Shingle exclaimed, hiding her anxiety with reawakened vigor, raising her fist in the air. "I believe in you! Do you best, Law!"

"…What kind of pep talk is that?"

"Oh crap… Was it really that bad?"

"…I was just kidding around, Shingle." I said with a half-exasperated, half-amused sigh.

I had to admit, even I was anxious, but for whatever good it did, I was glad that Shingle was here to support me. She saved me and took care of me, and I wanted her to be able to bear witness to the fruits of her efforts…. Of both her and Cora-san's efforts.

"Alright…. Let's start."

" _ROOM._ " The blue sphere that had now become such a familiar part of my life enveloped me in a sterile, transparent bubble. I decided to go from the bottom up, and started with my feet. I severed them off quickly and put them up so that the pads of my feet could feel the soft texture of the fresh towel that had been laid underneath me.

I let out a slow, steadying breath and hovered my hands above my feet, focusing all my concentration and energy on the white blotches laying visible on my skin. My hands were gloved with a blue, warm light.

" _Extrakt."_

One thought repeated and reverberated in my head as I drew my hands upwards to the ceiling: _ **Remove the amber lead**_

Like a mass of glittering snow, the amber lead seemed to gather up together and rose slowly out of my flesh, floating in the air.

Shingle gasped. "Whoa."

The ribbon-like stream of white grains followed the direction of my hands as I carefully led it into a jar that I had prepared next to me, and it settled gently like the sand in an hourglass.

I… did it. It really _was_ possible. After all these years, doubting, giving up hope… The dream my father had, and the legacy I inherited- Amber Lead Syndrome _could_ be cured. I took a moment to take it in, the sight of the ailment that had plagued my country, now resting harmless in a glass jar.

"Watch me, Shingle! I'm going to get rid of my disease once and for all!" I declared passionately.

She nodded, her eyes shining. "Go for it!"

I didn't waste a moment. After I took care of my feet, I moved on upwards, working on my legs, thighs, and pelvis. Then after I reattached my lower extremities, I moved on to my torso. Shingle lent me her sword, which we had made sure to sterilize as well, and with as much conviction and courage as I could muster, I slashed myself horizontally right through the middle and carefully cut my body into smaller pieces, making sure I didn't miss a single spot as I removed the deadly metal from my body.

"…I know it's probably really distracting for me to say this right now, but I am so happy that I studied all those medical book illustrations. Otherwise, this would probably freak me out or make me pass out."

I didn't reply to her statement as I was concentrating, but I felt just the same way. Operating on myself with a devil fruit power and cutting up my limbs one at a time was just about the most unnerving thing I'd ever done.

The upper part of my torso was tricky, but I decided to work on them one side at a time, so that I would always have one hand to work with. Soon, even the very hands I had been using to sift out the amber lead were now free of the accursed patches.

Finally, I had Shingle hold up a mirror for me so I could see where the amber lead was concentrated on my head. My face had been covered in the white spots, so I was always recognized right away for my condition. When I removed the final bit of amber lead from my face, I gave my reflection a long look and satisfied nod.

After having repeatedly using my powers, I fell back onto the towel, absolutely exhausted, and the blue sphere around me dissipated into nothingness. It took the entirety of the morning, but-

"You did it! Law, you really _did it_!" She clapped so happily and was jumping up and down so much that the floorboards were just about ready to come down from under us. As much as I wanted to tell her off, I just didn't have the heart to. I was so relieved, so overjoyed that I was free in every sense of the word. Free from the burden of my disease. Free from the suffering it caused me. And, maybe soon, I could be free from the shadow called Doflamingo.

I smiled the biggest smile I could at her, tired as I was, as she looked down on me, tears of joy gathering in both of our eyes.

"I'm… never going to eat bread ever again," I decided. Then, I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

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Notes:

What's in store for our intrepid pair now that Law's finally gotten rid of his the Amber Lead Syndrome? Good things, I hope! Oh and good luck with that imagery of Law cutting himself up to pieces. It's almost Halloween, after all! Yohohoho~

There are a lot of reviews saying that they thought Shingle was a lot older than she turned out to be. I admit that she does act super motherly, so it makes her seem more mature and old for her age, even if she does have the disposition of a kid sometimes and is quite short, hehe.

As always guys, thanks for your reviews!

Whatever your struggle… Do your best everybody!


	10. Chapter 9

Hello and howdy guys!

First of all, I hope you all had a wonderful and spooky Halloween/All-Saint's Day/Dia de los Muertos/Whatever it is that you celebrate!

It's been a while since I last churned one of these out, huh? Don't worry, though… There are not one, but _two_ chapters! (But really it was just one really long chapter cut into two, huhu.) So please enjoy!

One Piece is the artistic property of Eiichiro Oda, as well as all other companies with rights to it. Please don't sue me.

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9

We were well into the third week of our time together, and a few things had changed. Spring had permanently settled down on the island. Instead of snow, the ground all around us was now carpeted by young, lush grass and the plains leading up to the faraway town were plowed and filled with seedlings. The forest behind the house was filled with birdsong and the air was filled with the endless, calming trickle of the stream that flowed towards the stationary windmill a stone's throw away. Everything about the land seemed to reflect the energy of new life.

We had decided to stay we were for the meantime. Shingle and I had a difficult time, to say the least, of trying to decide definitively on our next move, especially since we both had very different views.

She had already made it clear that she preferred to stay where we were for the meantime. I argued, of course, that we should leave as soon as we could, and heading someplace far from Doflamingo's suspicions or influence would be the best option. After all, I wasn't too keen about Doflamingo finding me now that I'd managed to prevent my own death. If he found me, he was definitely going to force me into performing the Perennial Youth Operation on him to make him immortal, and he would use every means at his disposal so I would cooperate. But I would never help that bastard, not over my cold dead body. One way or another, I would be fated to give my life up.

After telling her about all that, I also reminded her that the murderous pirate captain had warned her to find another place to hide if they found out she was lying about my fleeing to Swallow Island.

"But that's exactly it, Law! Don't you think that staying here would be brilliant? If they check here and we're missing, they'll be at a dead end and we can take it easy. Besides, they _won't_ find us here if they come back." Shingle finished a piece of bread for breakfast, and I fought the urge to shudder involuntarily.

"What do you mean?"

Shingle raised a finger, and in the blink of an eye, she dissipated into the air, a light breeze filling the room with her disappearance. A short moment passed before she materialized, finger still pointing to the ceiling.

"I can disappear in an instant. Hiding is _literally_ one of my special talents."

"So why didn't you decide to disappear when Doflamingo came last time and started attacking you?"

She put her hands on her hips. "You really think I would abandon you like that? I had to keep them occupied from coming into the house and finding you. And anyway, I don't like revealing my powers. It's my trump card in the worst situations."

I frowned at the thought she refused to use her devil fruit powers just to protect me, mostly because she had gotten severely injured because of.

She'd made her point regardless, but I remained unconvinced.

"Then, what about me? If the family come back, I'll be found for sure!"

"Ah!" she smirked, anticipating my question. "Fear not, young sapling! I have the perfect solution."

She gestured for me to follow her, and she flourished her arms at the stairs, or rather, I assumed, what was behind the stairs. "Tadah!"

I stared dryly. "You mean the trapdoor to the basement?"

"Hmm, you don't seem very impressed."

"You're saying I should hide in there in case they show up?"

"Oh yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting." She said haughtily.

I continued to give her an unamused stare. "C'mon, you could at least give the idea a shot."

She sauntered over to the hole and closed it up. "Look, when you close the door, it's as if there was never a trapdoor at all."

As true as that was, this was all still pretty ridiculous.

"Look Law, even you can admit we've got a pretty cozy set-up here and there's really no place for us to go if we decide to up and leave."

"What about the man that Cora-san was in contact with? Sengoku?"

"As fond as I am of old man Sengoku," a melancholy shadow cast over her face, "I don't know what he would do if he found out about your circumstances. He is a kind person, but the fact that you ate the Op Op fruit and that you used to be a pirate, a Donquixote pirate, no less, complicates things quite a bit. And with what you told me about Vergo, it's possible that he'll corner us within the Navy. It's also possible that Doflamingo has more than one double-agent in the marines.

On top of that, I don't suppose you're very fond of the World Government anyway?"

I looked down. "That's true…" My distant memories showed me visions of men in marine uniforms, shooting down "infected" people. "I don't trust the Government at all."

"That's okay. My affiliation with the marines only goes as far as Rosi and old man Sengoku. After all, I'm a free-spirited pirate at heart. To be honest, even I don't know what I'm going to do from now on..."

A thought struck me. "What if we decide to set sail, Shingle? You and me- we could start our own crew!"

"Whoa now! Calm down, kid. I think it's a bit premature for us to think about forming our own crew. I still technically have a crew, and there's only two of us and a whole lot of other pirates out there. We don't even have a boat, y'know?"

Despite what she was saying, she grinned with a twinkle in her eye. "Look, let's say we _do_ get a boat and start travelling together. We're gonna need a lot of berries to finance our journey... You get what I'm saying?"

A smile spread on my face. "So if we can get enough money-?"

She gave me an exaggerated shrug, "Well, let's see what happens."

"Then I should help you earn money!" I said resolutely.

Her face fell. "What? Wha… No! Absolutely not!"

"Huh? Why not?"

"You should just had probably the biggest surgery of your life and you need rest!" I gave her an impatient look. "Alright, alright, I know the surgery didn't actually 'cause any injuries, but you still need to monitor yourself in case of, you know, adverse effects!"

I wasn't convinced.

"I'm completely fine! I don't get why you won't let me do it."

Her eyes were fixed on me, and there was a strange sort of… uneasiness in them. "I don't know if you'll understand this, but you're still young, and you should live your life. Kids shouldn't be working, they should be doing what kids do."

She was right- I didn't understand what she was saying in the least, but before I could interject with a much better argument, she spoke again.

"Gosh, never thought I'd say exactly what Rosi said. Look, I'll think about it, but for the mean time, you should just take it easy, okay?" She pat me on the head, which was awkward since we were the same height, and didn't say another word as she got ready to leave.

….

As soon as I saw her silhouette disappear beyond the horizon, I put on a different shirt and shorts, and tied a piece of yellow cloth on my head to cover my hair.

Then, I started to tail Shingle.

I followed her as she kept a brisk, lively walk across the bumpy, sloping landscape down towards the town just about half an hours walk away. I kept out of sight, staying silent as a mouse, while I dodged and hid behind trees and bushes.

Good, she didn't seem to notice my presence. In fact, she seemed to be completely oblivi-

She abruptly stopped in her tracks. "Whose there?!" She turned back, but I got out of sight just in time behind a large tree. Damn, how did she know? I didn't make a single noise.

"Hey now, I know you're there. Come out now!" Shingle said resolutely.

What should I do? If I didn't respond, Shingle would just investigate for herself and discover me, and then she'd be pissed and I'd get an earful. Of course, I wasn't terrified of Shingle doing anything remotely violent to me. In a way, I just didn't want her to be angry or disappointed.

"…Hello?"

I swallowed. I guess it was time to come clean.

I started when I heard Shingle yelp. "Oh my God! Mr. Mouse, don't scare me like that! I'm really jumpy, you know."

I quietly sighed in relief and listened as she started… talking to it? "Aww, you're so cute!" She emphasized the last word a bit forcefully, like she was biting her lower lip. "Do you have any other mouse friends around or-? Hey wait!"

A brown field mouse scurried by past my foot, stopped to take a quick look at me, then continued on beyond the tall grass. After a few moments, I peered over my shoulder and saw her walking away, singing a low tune.

I resumed following her, but my mission quickly turned out to be more of a test on my patience rather than my ability to keep my presence hidden. All throughout the way to the town, she stopped to stare at and smell flowers, and marvel at animals, only for them to pay her no mind at all or end up turning away and running when she called out to them.

She looked pretty downtrodden whenever that happened, but then she'd continue on power-walking towards the town. Several plowed fields flanked us left and right as we were coming up to a proper path that widened into a dirt road. I had no choice but to follow from a considerable distance since the land was now flat all around us. A few farmers were on the fields, tending to the crops that had just started growing, and I was worried that they might draw attention to me, but they gave Shingle and, later on, I nothing more than a passing glance.

Finally, after passing through the entrance of a low dividing wall that seemed to span all around the town, we arrived at Shellburn.

It had been the first time I saw the town up close, but it seemed like any other. In fact, I'd say it was the most peaceful town I'd seen. It wasn't that it was boring or lifeless- already there were people hustling and bustling about, off to do their own business- but I suppose considering my background, I was used to a more… chaotic scene.

I was a bit cautious as to how to proceed, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't because I hadn't been in any place resembling civilization for the past month. Shingle, however, easily slipped in and out of the crowds of people on the streets, and in no time she was out of sight.

"Crap, I'm gonna lose her!"

I rushed on after her and did my best to avoid bumping into anyone else. I caught a glimpse of her dark blue shirt and ponytail as she turned a left corner, and sprinted after her. I barely managed to catch her turn right at the next street and followed her.

I immediately retreated back behind the cover of the previous building when I saw that she had stopped in front of a large mansion that stood three stories high. An old, spindly maid wearing an apron was glaring at Shingle from the fenced-off yard.

"Well, it took you long enough to get here!"

Shingle started bowing. "I'm sorry Miss Stree… I just, I, uh-"

"Enough, just get to work! You have to clean all the windows today, but go and rake off the muck from the roof first."

"A-Alright, I'm on it."

"Just go!" the wrinkly woman ordered impatiently.

Shingle stood straight as a board at the command with a quick, "Yes Ma'am!" and hurried through the yard and off to the back of the building.

I stayed out of sight and cautiously maneuvered around the side of the building.

But when I got there, Shingle was gone. I didn't see her in the back yard at all, just a group of younger maids who were looking up and muttering amongst themselves.

"How dangerous…"

"She really does get the riskiest work."

"Well of course, that's what she's _hired_ for."

I quickly looked up. I shouldn't have been surprised to find Shingle already on top of the roof, a rake clasped in both hands. She looked down, and waved with a huge grin at the young women below her, all of whom gasped in varying degrees at her recklessness.

"Hey! Be careful up there, alright? Fall off and that's the end of you!"

"Yes, yes! Thanks!" She saluted.

'Flair for the dramatic' wasn't an exaggeration when it came to Shingle.

An expression of recognition flashed across her face as she continued to scan the streets below her and her eyes stopped in my direction. For a second I was afraid she'd seen me peeking out from behind the shop sign.

"Oi! Hey kid!"

I froze behind my hiding place.

"Are you guys gonna go on an adventure today, too?" she yelled.

"Nawh!" Another voice called back, one of an excited, low-pitched boy, "We're gonna play ball today!" Another boy's voice chirped in agreement.

"Okay, have fun!"

I waited a few minutes before I attempted to look out again, but I started when I heard the other voice speak again, right behind me.

"Hey, who are you?"

I turned and found a taller boy with short curled hair wearing a dirty brown shirt, a dirty red ball under the crook of his armpit. He couldn't have been any older than me. Next to him was a shorter boy who looked like his younger brother, holding on to the former's shirt hem, staring at me in wonder, and a girl with red hair wearing a blue dress, who peeked out from behind the tallest boy.

"Hey, didn't you hear me? I haven't seen you around here before. Who are you?" He looked at me from top to bottom curiously.

I had mind enough to glance towards the mansion, and thankfully I couldn't see Shingle. She'd probably started on with her work.

I looked back to them, and they were still waiting for my response.

"I'm… new around here."

"Well, that's obvious! I asked for your name!"

I fell silent, pondering whether I should even spend my time talking with these guys. I was here to spy on Shingle, after all.

"Well fine. If the cat's got your tongue, I'll go first. My name's Farring." He nudged at his younger brother with his elbow, and the boy spoke up, raising his hand. "I'm Frank."

"And I'm Sprigs," the red-haired girl said, bouncing out from behind Farring and waving with a big smile.

"So now you go," Farring prompted.

"… My name is Aqua." I decided to tell them. Shingle decided it would be good for me to use a fake name like her if I ever met anyone else, and that's the one I decided on.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Anyways, what were you doing behind here? Were you looking for something?"

"Hey hey, I know! Maybe he was shy and hid here when we were going to start playing." Sprigs suggested with an enlightened air.

"That must be it! Well, you don't have to be shy. If you're the new kid, we can show you around here."

"I'm sorry but you've got it all wrong. And I don't need your help. Thanks anyway." I answered quickly, moving past them so I could go back to looking for my elusive companion.

But they just wouldn't let up.

"H-Hey! Wait for us!" I could hear their footsteps following closely after me. I didn't want to deal with them so I pushed on.

I spotted the black-haired woman on one of the roofs on the west side of the lavish home. She was completely engaged in raking up all the stray leaves and moss on top of the roof, sweat glistening on her brow as the bright morning sun beat down on her head.

I bent down on a knee. I had to admit that I was a bit winded. I didn't have much of an opportunity to move my body while I was sick, after all. While I caught my breath, the others caught up with me.

"You didn't have to run so fast!" Sprigs complained. Frank was taking gulps of air. Farring was wiping beads of sweat from his face. "You don't have to run from us, you know."

"What are you even doing around here?" He looked about and then looked back to me.

"Does it have something to do with that lady?" Farring asked, pointing up at Shingle.

I kept silent; I didn't know if I had the patience to keep dealing with these guys.

Frank spoke up, "Maybe that lady is his mom or something?"

Sprigs cried out, "No way, she's way too young! She's probably his sister."

I grit my teeth, wishing they would stop talking so loud. "Alright, fine. That lady up there is just… someone close to me. I just wanted to follow her around today. That's it."

"But why are you following her around?" Sprigs asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"It's none of your business." I replied rather harshly.

'C'mon, man! We won't tell! You can trust us!" Farring pleaded. He was obviously just bored and looking for something- or in this case, someone- to entertain him.

I didn't want them to blow my cover, but I knew if I didn't explain myself, I wouldn't hear the end of their questions and I'd be tailed incessantly.

"Fine. That lady is taking care of me and I'm following her to find out what kind of work she does so I can help her earn money. Now that you know, you guys can leave me alone."

"So that's it!" Farring said. "Hey, then we can help you out!"

No chance. "I don't need any help."

"But we know this town like the back of our hands!" Sprigs added. "We know all the best places to hide, and we run into that lady all the time."

"I said I don't need any help."

Farring shrugged. "Fine. We'll just go back to playing our game. If you need us, we'll be around."

They started kicking the ball back and forth between them, running along the relatively empty street, but still keeping themselves close. It annoyed me that they were being so insistent, and I'm sure they intended to follow me around, but I figured as long as they didn't blow my cover, they could do whatever they wanted.

The minutes dragged by as I spied on Shingle. She moved about the top of the building, taking a few breaks now and then, and kept to her work. It was really a wonder to me that she enjoyed cleaning.

Meanwhile…. I was bored out of my mind.

"Hey look out!"

I turned around in time and managed to catch the ball just as it was about to collide with my face.

"You should watch where you're kicking!"

Farring laughed in response. "Sorry! You didn't get hurt, though. Your reflexes are pretty good."

If these guys ever found out that it was because I used to be a cold-blooded pirate, I bet their response would've been different.

"Why don't you play with us, Aqua?" the tall boy suggested. "I'm pretty sure you have nothing better to do right now. Miss cleaning lady is busy."

I didn't want to admit how true that was.

"Well hurry up! Kick the ball over here!" the redhead called impatiently.

I set the red ball down, steadying it with my foot. It couldn't hurt to have something to do while I was keeping an eye on Shingle. Besides, I needed the exercise, right?

"Alright, here it comes…."

I wound my leg back, and the ball flew towards Sprigs, but it landed a few meters short of reaching her feet. I had lost more of my muscle strength than I thought.

"What was that? I didn't think I could meet a boy that kicked worse than me."

"Good try though!" Frank clapped.

"Yeah, I'm sure Aqua will get the hang of it if he plays a bit more. C'mon!"

We passed the ball between each other, all the while keeping our distance. After that, we moved on to splitting into teams, Farring and Frank on one, and Sprigs and I on the other, trying to steal the ball from one another and kicking it into certain spots on the street, like a pot or a knocked over barrel. I was starting to get better at handling my feet after such a long time.

I still made sure to check what Shingle was doing every now and again, but she wasn't doing anything new, aside from moving on to the windows and making them shine. She would dangle her other leg precariously over the ledge while balancing on the other as she reached for the farthest parts with her short arms, her concentration shining off her face through the beads of sweat that slid off her knit eyebrows. The maids watching her simply gawked in horror, and the head maid started scolding them for stalling their work. Even I felt a little uneasy watching her, knowing how scatterbrained she could be.

The others had stopped for a second and were watching the scene as well.

"She does some pretty crazy-looking stuff, y'know."

I sighed. "You don't know the half of it."

We continued. Sprigs and I had just gained another point before I noticed the sun was close to the middle of the sky. I realized that most of the morning had passed us by as we played our game, which meant that-

"It's nearly time for lunch!"

"Huh? Hey, where are you going?!"

"I need to go!" Shingle never failed to come home at noon and bring lunch back for me. If I didn't get a head start, she'd find out I was out of the house.

I checked to see if she was still cleaning, and after spotting her as she was finishing up, I sprinted away from the mansion. The others called on after me, but thankfully they didn't follow me.

The buildings and plains flashed by in a blur as I dashed back to our home on top of the elevation. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure Shingle wasn't on her way back yet, and after several moments, I reached the front door to the shack.

I made sure to knock all the dirt out of my shoes and switch my clothes back. Shingle would be pretty suspicious if she saw the ball-shaped imprints of dirt on my clothes.

My exhaustion only hit me in full swing after I plopped down on a chair. I hadn't exerted myself this much in weeks. At least I was catching up on my exercise.

Shingle knocked on the door after several minutes, and I opened it for her immediately.

"Hey, I'm ba- Wow, you never usually open the door this quick. Were you waiting for me?" She said all this while putting down what she was carrying. I swallowed. Crap, she was right.

"Aww, you missed me, didn't you?" She said with an overjoyed expression.

"Shingle, let go of me-!" She came over to give me a tight hug, which I immediately wrenched myself from.

"You're soo adorable," she chuckled, and then went back to what she was doing. I couldn't understand how she could keep calling me that when we literally saw eye-to-eye. But anyway, at least she didn't suspect anything. After all, I still planned to follow her this afternoon.

* * *

Notes:

I realized I never really talked about how I came about to writing this story. So if you'll listen, this is it: As much as I admire Law for his dashing good looks, cold allure, and complete badassery, I really wanted a story that wasn't romantically-centered around the Surgeon of Death. It's not that I have anything against those, nor do I dislike them (guilty as charged) but Law's story and character were really things that I wanted to see expanded on.

His backstory is really one of the most heart-wrenching in One Piece, but I always wondered: What ever happened to him _after_ all the traumatizing sh*t he went through? I wanted to write a fanfic story that focused on that, and how he turns into the Pirate Captain-Doctor we all love.

To be honest, this story has been in the works for more than a year now, but I've only just now been continuing it, and it's really because of a lot of your reviews that I got the perseverance to keep at this story. I tend to have a very bad habit of lacking motivation when I write things, but I'm really honored by some of the reviews I've gotten. If you've still been reading up til now, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

Farring, Frank and Sprigs names are inspired by one of Edward Low's subordinates. Aqua is water in Latin, so yes, basically his real name, but different!

Again, questions welcome! And as always, have a great day!

sarge1130: I had actually thought of the same thing with the mold and having it as a number of "extraction sessions" instead of one big operation of sorts, but I ended up with that since I realized that Law didn't have much time between the time he could use extract and the time that he calculated for the amber lead to completely take over his body. I also thought of it being deposited in a specific part of his body, but I ended up thinking things like, "that would be too convenient" and "it wouldn't be that way realistically." On further thought, though, I was probably getting ahead of myself and it could have been fine written either way. Thanks so much for the input! :)


	11. Chapter 10

Here's the second part of the one long chapter I'd been writing. Hope you like it!

As always, One Piece is the beautiful, awe-inspiring brain-child of Eiichiro Oda. I have no rights over this whatsoever.

* * *

10

We had an uneventful lunch, and after a quick shower, she bade me farewell as she went on her way.

Like this morning, I changed my clothes and shadowed her silently all the way to the town, where instead of turning right, she went straight forward through the main road, and as I continued to follow her, I found that we had come up to what looked like the heart of the town.

The square's streets were lined with busy shops, people going to and fro, and I even spotted the Navy outpost that Shingle had told me about, with a few marines walking about here and there, keeping their eyes on the state of peace in the town.

Shingle made a beeline for an ancient-looking building, with a small, brass-plated sign next to the door that read, ' _ **Shellburn Public Library**_.'

After she had disappeared through the door for a few minutes, I cautiously looked through the front window. Through the glazed glass, I could make out tables and chairs for reading, and rows of bookshelves lined up at the back of the building. There was a plump, bespectacled woman wearing a floral dress at the front desk, and a few people sitting down with their borrowed books, but no Shingle.

"Hey, it's Aqua!"

I immediately recognized the voice that called my fake name, and before I knew it, I was face-to-face with the three I had been playing ball with this morning.

Farring was still carrying the dirty red ball, and now that I got a good look at him, his clothes were still covered in the sphere-shaped dirt marks, as were the other two.

"We've been looking all over town for you!" Sprigs declared. "Where'd you go?"

"I went home and had lunch," I answered shortly.

"Where do even live anyway?"

I didn't know if I should even respond to that question. If they knew that I was living in the dingy house by the windmill bordering the forest, it would raise more questions than answers.

Instead, I decided to ignore their query and head inside. A few heads turned to look at the newcomer, but after staring for a moment, no one paid me much mind and went back to whatever they were doing. Even the woman behind the desk only gave me a suspicious once over before returning to writing in a large book. Shingle definitely wasn't on the bottom floor. She had to be upstairs.

To my chagrin, the trio decided to follow me inside. By the looks on their faces, it didn't seem like they'd ever been in the library either.

"Aqua, what are you even going to do here?" Farring whispered. I was relieved that he at least had the sense to lower his voice.

"I'm still following Shingle." I murmured back.

"Oh, you mean that friend of yours? She must be upstairs."

"We can go check for you if you like." Frank suggested meekly.

"Yeah, you don't want her to see you, right? We'll go ahead and tell you if she's there."

I glanced at the librarian, and aside from giving us some wary looks, she didn't seem too annoyed by our presence.

"Alright fine," I conceded. "But whatever you do, don't tell her I'm here."

Farring gave me a toothy grin and a thumbs-up before they climbed the flight of stairs leading up to the next floor. It felt risky confiding in them, even with just the fact that I was following Shingle around, but if they pulled it off, it would definitely be a huge help.

As I waited for them, I realized that it had been a while since I had talked to anyone my age. Aside from Baby 5, Buffalo and myself, there were no other kids in the family, even amongst the servants. Cora-san had made sure that innocent children wouldn't get pulled into Doflamingo's trap. Despite that, though, I had been persistent, and even stabbed Cora-san because of his attempts to make me quit the crew.

It was strange that even though we were the only children in the crew, there was really nothing that attached me to the other two, and they were really more of a nuisance than anything. And now that I was a traitor to the family, they would kill me if they ever found me.

These guys, however annoying, were willing to help me with what I was doing. And I even got to play some games, something I never got into when I was younger. When I thought back on how I spent my days before my family had died, I only remember keeping my head in the medical books and focusing all my energy on my studies.

" _Oi, Law! We have a free period. Why don't you come play ball with us?"_

" _No thanks."_

" _C'monnn, you're always reading. Give yourself a break."_

" _Sorry, but I've still got seven more chapters of Physiology to go."_

After that, my classmates would look at each other sadly and go off to play, while I stayed inside and finished my reading. I don't remember my classmates' names anymore, but I remember how they looked, how they laughed, and how they begged for me to come with them to be saved by the Navy while our country was burning to the ground.

I regretted not having spent more time with them, and I would never be able to make up for it.

"Hey Aqua!" Farring called from the small landing, which prompted a loud "Shhh!" from the librarian.

"What is it?"

"Just come up here," he said as he stifled his laughter, "and don't worry about getting caught!"

I couldn't guess what happened, but I decided to follow him up the flight of stairs, which ended in a small platform before continuing up to the second floor.

When I got there, there was practically no one else except for us. Frank and Sprigs were looking over the shoulder of someone whose head was resting on the table, snickering the whole while.

That couldn't have been…

I rushed over and sure enough, it was Shingle and she was sound asleep. Her head was turned to the side and resting on top of her folded arms as a pillow. There was an open book underneath her, and her mouth was open, so she was drooling all over it.

"Eww, she's getting the book wet." Sprigs said.

"She's out cold." Farring stated. He looked to me, "Now what?"

I thought hard. "Do you guys know where she goes off to after working in the library?"

"Well, my mom told me once that the library closes at 5 o'clock, so I guess she spends the whole time here until then."

"Oh, once when we were eating dinner at Popina, I saw her working there!" Sprigs added.

"Oh yeah, you're right!"

"That must be where she works as a chore girl," I muttered. I looked back at Shingle, and it was almost ridiculous how she could sleep there so vulnerably, especially when somebody could attack her. She couldn't even defend herself from an ill-intentioned prank. She could have been found by the librarian and reprimanded, or worse, fired.

"Geez, don't tell me this is what she does with her time. That's really disappointing." I said, more to myself. It was probably because she was staying up later than usual lately, working on her writing and brushing up on some medical books along with me.

I picked up her cardigan that hung over the chair behind her and draped the clothing over her shoulders.

"It would be boring for us to just hang around here. You guys don't seem like the reading types, after all. We can go and play while waiting for her to wake up and then we can start following-"

All of them were staring at me, transfixed and starry-eyed, like I had something amazing stuck to my face.

"W-What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing, haha," Farring lied, pointedly looking away from me.

"Well… it's just that you looked so caring when you were putting that on her. You were like a completely different you," Sprigs explained bashfully.

I didn't really get it, but I felt like I was just caught doing something embarrassing, and my cheeks tinged.

"L-Let's just go already. I thought you guys wanted to play more. And I should leave before she finds me here." Without waiting for a response, I quickly went down the steps and they soon followed.

For the next few hours, they showed me as many of their favorite spots around the large town as they could, like the town square with a fountain at its center where they would often play or meet other kids, the pastry shops they liked to visit, and the wide streets and alleyways bordering the mansions of the wealthy, which served as places to spy on grown-ups. They excitedly introduced me to the adults they knew, apparently proud that they'd discovered me before anyone else had. Thankfully, they didn't have much time to ask me questions about where I was living or who my parents were since my tour guides kept whisking me away to another location.

I figured out that while the town wasn't a huge economic power between its neighboring islands, Shellburn Port had a lot of merchant and even Navy ships coming and going because they would restock their supplies at the town before moving on to Swallow and Rubeck Island, which explained why the town was relatively large despite the island itself being devoid of other major countries or cities.

It was a relatively peaceful place to live in the midst of the world's turmoil, and I had to admit, the place was growing on me. Now if only Doflamingo would write me off for dead and Cora-san could be brought back to life, everything would be perfect.

"Aqua, what's wrong? You're spacing out."

"Huh?" I realized I hadn't even touched the chocolate cupcake topped with yellow cream that the three of them had bought for me, and they were staring at me expectantly for me to dig in.

"…Why did you guys buy this for me again?"

"Ehh? Should there really be a reason?" Sprigs crossed her arms.

Farring scratched his head. "It's just to welcome a new friend to the town, I guess, especially since we're having so much fun following you while you follow Miss Lady around."

Frank nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

Friend, huh? I hadn't had a real friend my age since I was 10. It was a strange feeling.

Honestly I wasn't really into sweet food, but I didn't think I had much of a choice, not when they were staring at me.

After I ate about half of it and insisted that the others finish the rest, we were on the way back to the library. I was listening to Sprigs talk about how her elder sister was annoying her at home and reflected on my own relationship with Shingle, when I got knocked back by a stranger passing by me. I didn't mind it much, and continued on. Unfortunately, the other person didn't see it the same way.

"And where do you think you're going, brat?"

I was pulled back roughly by the back of my collar, and I fell to the ground, my assailant looming over me menacingly. Against the bright afternoon light I couldn't see his face, but the first thing I noticed was that his arms were impossibly long, like he had two- no, three elbows, and he grinned sinisterly, eyeing me like a spider finding prey caught in its web.

"Oh no, Aqua!"

Everyone had gone quiet, as though Cora-san had used his power over the whole street. People had stopped to spectate with grim looks on their faces, as though I was doomed. Even my three friends stood in horror as they realized what had happened.

Another figure loomed over me, and my vision was completely blocked by these two shadows.

"Hmm, well well. Haven't seen you around here, have I? Just another foolish boy who doesn't know where he's supposed to look when he's walking. No need to get worked up, Sersis."

I was hoisted up by my shirt, and tossed aside, though I managed to gain my footing and stop myself from falling head-first onto the pavement. My three companions ran to my side, worried I had gotten seriously injured, but more than that, they should have been worried _I_ would start causing a scene.

I got a good look at those guys' faces. The man who'd knocked me down was tall and spindly, and his loose pants and shirt only made him look even scrawnier, but he gave you the feeling that he was going to snatch you up and torture you just for fun.

The other man, however, had a completely different vibe to him. Along with also having an extra elbow, he was large and muscular, with a long leather coat draping his figure, and wild, red hair going down his back. He was smiling down at me in a way that was meant to be hospitable, but there was a hidden danger to it, like he was amused by the anger on my face and was almost daring me to act on it. He had his hand placed on his companion's shoulder, like he was holding him back. It seemed to me like he was the one in charge.

"We best be on our way, Sersis. I'm sure this kid will learn soon enough to keep a good eye on where he's going. After all, he might get himself into a terrible accident."

Sersis didn't seem to want to be done with messing with me just yet, but he relented. "Whatever you say, boss," he said with a voice like sandpaper.

The two went on their way, and as they passed, the adults would avert their eyes from the duo and went out of their way to make sure they wouldn't bump into them.

Who did those bastards think they were? The others must have sensed what I was going to do, because both Farring and Frank grabbed at my wrists tightly, and after I took a deep, steadying breath, I turned my back from the retreating figures.

"Aqua, I'm so sorry, it's because we were talking and- I didn't get to see them either and- and-" Sprigs lower lip was quivering and she seemed ready to burst in tears.

"I-It's okay, Sprigs, it's not your fault." I told her. It seemed to make her feel better.

"I'm really glad you're okay, though," she sniffed.

Farring pat my shoulder, speaking in hushed tones, "Yeah, who knows what would've happened to you?" Frank nodded, still looking pale from the ordeal.

"Who were those guys anyway?"

At this, they all fell silent.

"I don't think we can talk about it here..." Farring finally said.

They silently led me off to a deserted alley, and then the tall boy looked hesitantly to the others before explaining.

"They're bandits."

"Bandits?"

"Yeah, really bad ones."

"Super mean ones," Sprigs added, lip quivering again.

"Our dad said they're Long-arms, that's why their arms look like that. They're not really from around here."

Frank nodded glumly in agreement. "I heard that they live near the mountains and that they eat bears for breakfast." Sprigs covered her face in fear with a high-pitched yelp.

"Alright, but why are they just walking around the town like they own it? Won't the marines posted here do anything about it?"

At this, Farring shook his head sadly.

"This part of the island doesn't get a lot of pirates coming by, so we don't have a lot of marines here to protect us like other dangerous places do. But the bandits are really strong and the marines don't stand a chance. So I heard they agreed that as long as they don't kill anyone, the marines won't bother them or report it to the government. The bandits just threaten the shops around here once in a while, and if they give up money, nobody gets hurt."

"My mom and big sis told me never to make them mad or try to talk to them," Sprigs said. "They say that bad things happen to people that try to go up against them."

No wonder everyone was petrified by what happened. "And I guess that big guy with the red hair was their leader?"

"Whoa, how did you know?"

The dangerous glint in the red-haired man's eye crossed my mind. "Just a guess."

"Well, I'm sure you could've figured this out on your own, but you should do your best not to run into them again, Aqua. You were really lucky this time, but next time they might get really mad and decide to attack you. No matter what they do, you shouldn't say or do anything against it."

I couldn't deny that aggression had been my first-line response to any threats that came my way since I became a pirate, and those two were _definitely_ threats. But, as much as I wanted to get back at them, I knew that would be the worst thing I could do. I could calm myself much better now, especially after everything that's happened lately. These guys were just a bunch of small time thugs. If this was the way these people maintained the peace around here, I wasn't going to go out of my way to mess with that and pick a fight with bandits.

By the time we finished talking, the sun was setting in the west, and when we went back to the library, we found out that Shingle had already gone.

Afternoon had switched to night as Farring and the others showed me the way to Popina, the restaurant where Shingle worked in the evening right before going home. It was quaint place, decorated with warm colors, and was set up with a welcoming atmosphere as a place where common folk could have a carefree dinner, or just gather together casually for a drink or a late snack. We could already see a crowd of patrons gathering inside through the open windows.

Sprigs told me that there was a backdoor where the workers came in and out, and Shingle would usually be washing the dishes by the window. They decided to say hello, while I hid out of sight but just within earshot.

"Good evening, Miss Lady!" Sprigs greeted enthusiastically.

"Oh hey kids! What brings you here at this time? Shouldn't you be at home?" I heard Shingle's cheery voice ask them.

"Nawh, we're old enough to take care of ourselves." Farring said with a dismissive wave.

"And anyway, we're here with a new frien- Mmph!" Sprigs quickly covered her mouth when she realized what she'd just said.

"Really? A new friend? Can I meet him, too?" she sounded genuinely enthusiastic.

"Oh, y-you can't… h-he's really shy." Farring explained.

"Yeah, that's right. Hahah."

"Hmmm, I see. That's too bad" Shingle said and I could imagine that unconvinced, playful smile just by her voice.

"Shingle, there's a problem. We need your help!" someone called from inside.

"What happened?"

"Pear apparently can't make it 'because she's caught the flu. We need someone else who can wait tables, and you're the only here who can do it! Everyone else has their hands full in the kitchen."

"W-What?! I-I can't wait tables, I'm just-"

"There's no time, we've got a lot of people coming in tonight! It has to be you!"

I could hear Shingle being dragged off against her weak protests, and the others came back over to me.

"I don't think she'll be back anytime soon." Sprigs said, disheartened.

"They only way you can spy on her now is if you go into the restaurant, Aqua." Farring suggested.

"No chance. I'll be seen for sure."

Frank snapped his fingers. "Not if you wear a disguise!" He dug his arm deep into his pockets, and out of them came a large pair of dark sunglasses and a white cloth mask. "Mama gave these to me. She said it was in case one of us would get a cold, or if the sunlight was getting in our eyes.

"There's no way this is going to work," I said flatly. I would look even more conspicuous with a get up like that.

Farring slapped me hard on the back. "C'mon! You'll never get anywhere with that attitude."

I fell silent, staring at their pleading faces. As stupid as it was and as much as I knew I was going to regret it later, I couldn't help but sigh and snatch the mask and glasses out of Frank's hands while they cheered me on. After a moment, almost my entire head was hidden from view.

"See, we can barely recognize you," Frank said with an innocent grin, while Sprigs clapped and Farring snickered.

I felt ridiculous and I was sweating under all of it, but they pulled me towards the front entrance. Thankfully, I could still see through the tinted glasses, so I wasn't tripping over myself when I stepped through the threshold.

Inside, the large room was designed like a tavern. Instead of normal electric lights, there was one large light at the center of the ceiling, while several lanterns and lamps were hung around the room, each giving off a cozy, warm glow. There were plenty of tables of different sizes and shapes, and in one corner there were even low sofas. The place was already full of people who were chatting away and enjoying themselves or otherwise eating their hot meals. A range of enticing smells filled the room.

It was only after we'd taken our seats near a quieter part of the room that I realized just how hungry I was. Normally I had dinner much later than this, when Shingle brought some back home with her after work, but that was when I spent practically all my time sitting down. I'd been running around all day and I was starving.

"Hey, I didn't expect you guys to come in!" Recognizing the voice, I immediately put the menu up and pretended to read it to cover my face.

"Haha, yeah, we got kind of hungry, so we decided to eat here!"

"Wow, Miss Lady you look really nice in that!"

"O-Oh really? Oh my, haha. I feel really embarrassed now. I'm not used to wearing skirts, you know, but all the waitresses have to. I can't believe I got dragged into it…. B-But anyway! What'll I get for- Hey, is this your new friend?" She said all this in a distracted flurry, and I stiffened when she finally noticed me.

I slowly lowered the menu and looked at her.

She was wearing a paired blouse and skirt tinted light purple and blue. I couldn't help but gawk. As bubbly and emotional as her demeanor could be, she was also pretty gruff and tomboyish, and often dressed that way, stating that she preferred to be comfortable. This was really the first time I saw Shingle wearing something relatively girly.

"Hi, the name's Shingle. You?"

I almost said something in the wake of my surprise, but I quickly shut my mouth as I blushed.

"Like we said, Miss Lady, he's really shy," Farring explained with a nervous chuckle.

"Ah okay! Well, at least he's warmed up to you guys. Is he alright, though? Is he sick or something?"

I faked a small cough, wishing she would stop being her usual talkative self.

"Aw, poor guy. Well, you should all choose what you want from the menu now."

Anything would be fine to stave off the hunger. There was one problem, though.

"I don't have any money," I whispered to Farring.

"What'd your friend say?"

"Oh… Uh, he said he didn't bring any money…."

"Hmm…" She put her fingers to her chin, then suddenly snapped her fingers. "If I cover it for you tonight, will you pay me back later?"

I nodded gingerly, trying not to think of the fact that she'd technically be paying for it in the end anyway.

"Haha, okay! You better keep your word. You should know, I'm pretty persistent when it comes to debts." Did I ever.

After she penned down our orders, she went off to the kitchen and came back out a few moments later to tend to some other patrons. I got to watch as she spoke with other people, and I noticed she was moving a bit stiffly, so she must've been nervous. I'm sure it was because she was worried about letting the restaurant people down, but I saw her gradually loosening up to the customers and making jokes with them.

Even with strangers, Shingle was unfalteringly nosy and doting. In a way it was reassuring. I was glad I had come to know her well enough to see that she was the same with other people as she was at home.

She came back to our table some time later, carrying a tray of our orders. She fumbled a bit as she served us our food, and my companions got a good laugh out of her clumsiness. She smiled wide at me as she gave me my food. "Remember, I'm putting this on your tab!" she said with a wiggle in her eyebrows. "I hope you enjoy your meal."

The smell of piping, fresh food filled our nostrils and we dug in without a moment's hesitation. I didn't get too much, especially knowing that I'd still have a lot to eat when Shingle got home later, but I was more than satisfied. Luckily, when all of us had eaten our fill, it looked like she still had her hands full, and I had the chance to leave for home well before she could start on her way back.

Shingle stopped us after the others had paid and we got up to leave.

"Are you leaving already?" she asked with a fake pout.

"Yeah, we're pretty tired, and don't want our parents to get too worried." Farring said, while Frank nodded enthusiastically.

"And I'm sure my family is wondering where I am." Sprigs added

"Well, did you guys have a fun day today?" the black-haired lady asked us.

They all looked at each other for a second, then back at me with knowing grins and nodded. "Yeah!" they answered in unison.

"What about you, kid?" she looked down at me expectantly.

In that moment, I wish I could have conveyed all the things I was feeling without having to say a word, but there was no way I could. I _did_ have a lot of fun today. It all sounded pretty silly in my head, but doing things like kicking a ball around with friends and following Shingle were some of the most fun things I've done.

I was impressed that she didn't drop anybody's food tonight and glad that she did everything with her frivolous, carefree spirit. Unlike the others, I wouldn't be going home to a family who was waiting for me. Mine was lost years ago. But instead, I was the one who waited for a special person to come home, and that was fine with me.

I was really proud of her.

I gave a single, strong nod in response to her question, and she laughed good-naturedly at my silent answer.

"You know, you really remind me of someone I know. He usually keeps to himself and can be really cranky, but he's really brilliant and amazing!

Maybe someday you could all meet him! I'm sure you'd all be good friends." she said to all of us, and the others did their best to keep themselves from laughing while my cheeks tinted red under the mask.

After we left the restaurant, I took off my disguise, save my yellow bandana, and returned it to Frank. All of them looked at me and I realized they were waiting for me to send them off.

I hesitated for a while, especially since this sort of thing wasn't something I was used to. In fact, I could feel my face heat up from having to say something potentially embarrassing, but finally I told them. "… Thanks for today, guys. I really appreciated it. And it was a lot of fun."

They were all silent for a while, before Farring burst into a fit of laughter.

"What was that?" he said while wiping away tears. "You should loosen up. We're just kids; you don't have to be so formal."

"Hey, we'll hang out again tomorrow, won't we?" Sprigs asked, hopeful.

The question caught me off-guard. Tomorrow? I'm sure that my expectations of the word were much different from theirs. Tomorrow for them was sure to mean playing more games or exploring more parts of the town. Tomorrow for me was keeping watch next to a window, wondering whether I would be found by my old crew, tortured and killed. Tomorrow was thinking up different plans to survive or kill Doflamingo. Tomorrow was hope, but it was also fear. These guys were just kids. I wasn't a kid anymore. At least, I didn't get the chance to grow up like one.

But… maybe this was my chance.

"You must be a very unlucky boy for me to run into you twice in a day." I heard a familiar voice say from behind me. All my hairs stood on end.

Before I could even turn around, I got knocked down with a hard punch to my shoulder.

I looked up to find Sersis, the spindly long-armed man I had bumped into that afternoon, his mouth pulled in a murderous grin. Behind him were two unfamiliar faces, a pair of twins who were also Long-arms, with one having hair spiked up into a spire and the other with his hair done down in a braid.

"Wow, Sersis, didn't hesitate at all, did he, bro?"

"Yeah bro! He knocked that little punk right off his feet!"

I tried to pick myself up, only to find myself getting stomped down into the cobblestone, and I heard myself cry out in pain.

I saw my friends' faces as I tried to hoist my body up. Farring had his fist clenched in frustration as he kept himself back, while the Frank and Sprigs covered their faces in horror, weeping loudly.

"What's happening here, Sersis?"

It was another familiar voice… It belonged to the leader. The weight of the foot on my back slackened a bit.

"Ah, boss…. I found this young boy again and- Wah! Argh!"

I quickly rolled myself from under his foot, and my much taller opponent lost his balance. Taking advantage of his confusion, I went for it and punched him right in the gut with all the force my body could spare. I had promised myself I wouldn't go around picking fights, but if they were going to hit first, I wasn't going to hesitate on hitting back.

I'd meant to get away when he doubled up over his stomach, but he grabbed me before I could take a single step. This time, I took the full brunt of his punch right in the face, and it threw me to the ground. I felt my ribs groan on the impact, and tasted blood in my mouth.

"You shitty brat," he hissed as he lifted me by the neck, and I felt like I was impossibly high up in the air. "You're not very smart, are you?"

I was getting choked. I clawed at his hands, but it didn't seem affect him one bit. I tried kicking at him, but I couldn't even reach. Slowly, stars were starting to fill my vision. My sight was fading….

"Put him down." I could sense everyone's heads had turned.

"Oh… it's the young Miss. A good evening to you."

"Mr. Grave, I would like to _kindly_ ask for your lackey to let go of my brother."

I couldn't catch what the leader had said, but I was immediately let go, and thankfully, before I reached the ground, Shingle had run out to catch me in her arms. I hacked and coughed as she set me down, then she stood up to confront them.

Shingle's face was hard to read. She looked conflicted, as though she wanted nothing more than to punch all of their lights out, but she also looked very worried, as her eyes took quick glances at me.

She took a deep, slow breath through her nostrils. "I don't know what he did, but he's learned his lesson. Please accept my apology in his stead." Despite what she said, her tone was hard as steel. It wasn't sarcastic in the least, but she definitely didn't sound like she was apologizing.

"But of course, young Miss. We won't be bothering him again if he keeps to himself." Grave said in the same tone, but all the while he smiled devilishly as he spoke. It was like they were speaking in code, and there was a silent stalemate taking place between them...

Sersis looked absolutely livid as he stared at both me and Shingle, but he didn't speak up against his boss or his decision.

The large man gave a small bow. "Before we take our leave, might I just say you look wonderful in your outfit tonight?" The two twins snickered maliciously.

Shingle was still wearing the waitress's outfit, and the way they were looking at her made my blood boil, but Shingle didn't say a word, standing her ground.

Grave shrugged, his smirk ever-present, before he signaled to his gang and they all turned and walked away casually in the other direction. Everyone on the street watched them walk away without a word before gradually scattering as well, until only the five of us were left.

I stood up and dusted myself off. I didn't know what I could say to Shingle. I didn't even want to look her in the eye, but it was proving difficult, since she staring at me so intently. Once again, I couldn't read her expression. She suddenly inched closer, and I braced myself for a smack to the face. Instead, I got a warm hug.

"I'm really glad you're okay." Then I got smacked in the face. I heard Farring react just out of sight with a small "Oof." I couldn't decide if I deserved the hug or the slap, but I decided not to argue as I rubbed at my cheek.

"You kids should be careful on your way home, okay? Thanks for taking care of this guy today!"

"Y-Yeah, you're welcome." They answered hesitantly, waving slowly.

Shingle walked back into Popina, but since she didn't tell me to follow her, and I really didn't want to get slapped again, I decided to stay outside. There was no point in going home ahead since she knew I was here, so I might as well go home with her.

"W-Well, we'll see you around Aqua…" Farring said, staring distractedly all the while at where my companion had just disappeared.

"I hope your big sis doesn't punish you too bad…" Sprigs offered as a word of comfort.

They waved farewell. Then, after giving me a sort of pitying look, they dashed off to go home.

I only had to wait a short while before Shingle re-emerged, wearing her own clothes again, with the usual paper bag full of food in the crook of one arm.

She wordlessly led the way, and I took that as the sign to follow after her. Not a word was said between us as we trekked the whole way back home, led by the light of the stars and the full moon, and knowing Shingle, that was actually much more unsettling than if she decided to reprimand my ear off until we reached the shack. I had never spent so long in her presence without her opening her mouth to say something.

After we opened the rickety door and crossed the threshold, she put the food down and looked at me with her hands on her hips.

"Well now, what am I going to do with you?" she said, rather disappointed.

I was about to apologize, but she held up a finger. "Before you say anything though, I know you're sorry. I also know you want to ask about those bandits and why I said what I said, but let me say my bit first." I readied myself for the inevitable verbal lashing.

"Sigh… Well, I should've known you'd go and do something like this. You couldn't stay cooped up in this place forever, after all. And now it's come to the point where you actually snuck out and could've gotten killed! So, I think… that I've been too harsh with trying to keep you in here."

Wait… What?

"And so, from now on, as long as we're being _careful_ ," she said that while pointedly jabbing her finger in my direction, "I'll let you go down to town so you can hang out with the other kids. And, if you _really_ want to help me with earning Berries, then… that's fine." She begrudgingly decided, folding her arms.

I stared at her, open-mouthed and speechless. She was… really serious?

"I withhold all questions til tomorrow," she stated, putting her palm up. "I'm super tired and I'm gonna head straight to bed after dinner. Help me out?" Then she went off and started preparing the table for dinner as usual and, per her request, I gave her a hand.

After we sat down across each other, she pointed a spoon at me, a curious glint in her eye and a smile creeping on her lips.

"Sooo… tell me about your day."

* * *

Notes:

Thanks so much for putting up with the wait. This was a chapter I'd conceptualized for a long time and one that I really wanted to finally write. It took a while, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out, and I hope you all were as well.

Popina is Latin for a restaurant or tavern. If you guys haven't figured yet, I've been giving Shingle and this story in general Latin naming conventions. I also get inspiration from some English/Dutch/German names on Law's side.

Will be posting again soon. So long for now!


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